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THE GERMAN BRACELET 








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THE GERMAN BRACELET 


r By • » 

j. faRrer gr'aydon 



New York and Washington 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1908 



c. 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 


NOV 20 1908 



Copyright, 1908, by 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 




To 

My Son, 

IV hose loyal interest has been my 
constant encouragement. 




CHAPTER I 


The Broadnax family was not a large one, 
as were many of the Southern families, Irene 
being the only daughter and Stanley the only 
son. 

Old Mr. Broadnax had, in his younger days, 
spent much of his time abroad, fond of the 
social life of the European capitals, mildly in- 
terested in art, and wealthy enough to indulge 
a fancy for collecting curios. 

Returning to his native land, he retained 
always a distinct impression that a bit of travel 
on the Continent was quite essential to an 
American man’s education, even though it has 
been said, “In Europe a man is numbered and 
ticketed the day he is born, and assigned to his 
place on a shelf in a row of shelves, while in 
America he is free to choose for himself. 

Thus, naturally, when Stanley, who was pro- 
claimed by the young men of his own age and 
county “a rattling good fellow,” and by the 
fair sex, “just too charming,” had finished his 
course at Lexington he was sent to Heidelberg 

( 7 ) 


8 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


for a broader course of study, to be followed 
by an indefinite period of travel. 

Not a few rumors had been wafted across 
the county during Stanley’s days at Lexington, 
of affairs at the Institute and on the race 
course not altogether to a young man’s credit; 
but then, who would not forget such disagree- 
ables when a fellow scattered money like grain, 
and whose family was quite the best in the 
county? Of his life abroad his family read 
letters filled with accounts of various gayeties, 
with an occasional reference to study. Fre- 
quently he mentioned names which were familiar 
to his father, and when these chanced to be 
families of distinction the old man’s pride was 
gratified. 

One name the Broadnax family came to 
know well; it was Cragfels, always associated 
with Stanley’s in accounts of his wildest and 
gayest escapades. We should now find him 
with this companion if we were to enter his 
sumptuously furnished apartments. The two 
men were lounging in deep easy-chairs, and the 
room was heavy with the smoke that circled 
upwards in great clouds from the German’s 
pipe, and in delicate wreaths from the Ameri- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


9 


can’s cigar; failing to reach the high ceiling, 
it settled upon the heavy curtains which shut 
out the raw evening air, and enveloped with a 
thin veil the pictures, arms, and other orna- 
ments decorating the walls. 

“Well, do you go to-morrow night?” Crag- 
fels was asking while he watched his com- 
panion’s face through the smoke. 

“Go where?” 

“To the Countess Geyelin’s,” returned Crag- 
fels. “Madamoiselle Eunice is to be there.” 

Broadnax smiled slightly, and extending a 
lazy, white hand toward a small glass upon 
the table and raising it, he sipped its contents 
with indolent appreciation, asking with an as- 
sumption of indifference: “Why don’t you 
marry Mademoiselle?” 

A heavy cloud rose from the German’s meer- 
schaum before he replied: 

“It is impossible; it would ruin me. My 
chance in this life hangs upon a slender thread, 
and to marry Mademoiselle, — an actress, — 
Himmel !” 

He frowned savagely, gripping the big pipe. 

Broadnax’s dark eyes showed a gleam of in- 


io THE GERMAN BRACELET 


terest; his friend appeared to be in an unusual 
humor; he would draw him out a bit farther. 

‘‘Why should the lady upset your chances?” 
he queried. 

“Ach! it is what you call a complication,” 
Cragfels muttered. “I do not fully know it 
myself, though I here possess the key to it.” 

He put his hand up and drew from around 
his neck a slender chain on which was clasped a 
bracelet of antique and exquisite workmanship. 

Stanley’s interest now thoroughly aroused, 
he leaned over to examine more fully the trinket 
so curiously worn. 

It was a broad yet delicate band of quaint 
design, on which was woven a filigree tracery 
of roses, the clasp being a square of plain gold, 
surmounted by a wonderful rose pink pearl. 

As Broadnax exclaimed at its singular beauty 
the German continued : 

“The rose is the German emblem of secrecy, 
you know. It is said to have become so from 
the legend of Cupid giving to the God of Silence 
a rose to bribe him not to betray the amours of 
Venus; so I suppose it was used appropriately 
here, as there is a mystery connected with this: 
though I do now know all, I yet know that it Is 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 1 1 

the controlling influence of my destiny, and, as 
such, I wear it always; it has decreed I shall 
not marry Mademoiselle Eunice.” 

He rose, and replaced the bracelet, conveying 
the impression that he had said all he expected 
to say on the subject. 

Stanley felt curious to know more of its his- 
tory, but decided to wait another opportunity, 
and instead watched his companion as he paced 
back and forth the length of the room, pipe 
in mouth and hands thrust deep in his pockets. 
The march continued, coming to an abrupt halt 
before Stanley’s low chair. 

“Mademoiselle Eunice,” he began — “you 
care nothing for her yourself, then why are you 
with her so much?” 

He looked down at his companion as he asked 
the question, the heavy brows bent in a scowl 
of evident irritation. 

The superficial friendship which had united 
the two men after Stanley’s arrival in the town 
had become decidedly strained of late; the lat- 
ter had used to his own advantage the German’s 
intimacy with several families of position, and 
having now obtained entree within the desired 
social circle he found his former associate a bit 


12 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


too much of a bore, to put it mildly. Poker 
he had taught the German, winning his money 
quietly and steadily during the process; now 
he was tired of the man’s stolidity, and it was 
with this feeling that he answered in light 
mockery : 

“The lady is charming, fascinating and — I 
enjoy your expression when you see us together.” 

He laughed softly. “You can hardly blame 
my attitude when you prefer a mere bracelet — 
a beauty. I’ll admit — ^to the supreme bliss of 
matrimony with the entrancing Eunice.” 

The low malicious laugh again reached the 
ears of Cragfels. 

“It is for my vexation you do this then; that 
you fill her ears with your soft American words 
of empty flattery, and then laugh over your 
success and my chagrin! It is so, is it?” he 
continued, his anger rising steadily as he pic- 
tured his own defeat compared to Stanley’s 
victory. 

“Well, you smooth-tongued deceiver, I tell 
you to have a care, and not to annoy me too 
far. I am a stupid German, it is so? And you 
a clever American, so? But it is not for your 
eternal pleasure to get this stupid German 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


13 


aroused. Do not be too clever, my American 
friend. You should not forget a few little 
rumors that have circled about with your attrac- 
tive self as their center. Not too far, Herr 
Broadnax !” 

The last words were uttered as Cragfels, 
grasping his soft felt hat from the couch where 
he had dropped it, stalked toward the door, 
banging it emphatically after him. 

As the sound of the footsteps of the depart- 
ing guest ceased, Stanley rose slowly and with 
evident reluctance from his lounging position, a 
smile of self-satisfaction upon his lips. He dis- 
missed the affair with a careless shrug of his 
broad shoulders, and deciding against going 
out, finished his evening with a French novel of 
dubious title. 

Cragfels, on the contrary, feeling himself in 
need of gentle consolation, after improving his 
appearance by a change of attire, proceeded to 
the apartment of Mademoiselle Eunice, who 
was at once the delight and the torment of his 
existence. 

Being ushered into the tiny salon by the most 
discreet of black-frocked, low-voiced maids, he 
wandered about the daintily furnished room 


14 the german bracelet 


with undisguised restlessness. Leaning his el- 
bow on the marble mantle he found himself face 
to face with a large photograph of his recent 
companion. Cursing the original with native 
thoroughness in good mouth-filling German 
syllables, he restrained himself with difficulty 
from smashing the aggravating likeness with 
equal thoroughness. 

“Bon soir, Monsieur Cragfels!” 

The silvery tones reached him while yet 
clutching the offending picture, and turning 
hastily he gazed down at the fairy-like creature 
with mingled emotions. What was she — this 
little Frenchwoman? Was she merely playing 
with him, and really in love with the American? 

Having returned her greeting, Cragfels 
started to replace the photograph as the lady 
asked : 

“Why are you studying that picture? I 
don’t believe you even turned your eyes once 
to my own portrait; see! Is it not parfait? 
That adorable little Russian painted it, and pre- 
sented it to me in such a charming way that it 
quite touched my heart; now was it not most 
delightful of him?” 

Her piquant countenance, all aglow with 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 15 

childish pleasure, was turned appealingly to the 
German. Without giving him time, however, 
to express his apparent jealousy by more than 
a slight growl, she chattered on in French, hav- 
ing definitely refused to speak any but that 
language with Cragfels ; declaring that German 
was the language of necessity, but French the 
language of pleasure. 

“Come, you shall sit here beside me, where 
you will be comfortable.” 

She piled pillows invitingly at the other end 
of the chaise-longue, on which she had perched 
herself like a butterfly settling for a moment 
amidst fragrant, soft-tinted foliage. 

“And you shall tell me why there is such a 
terrible thundercloud just above your brow. 
Confess to me your misdemeanors and I shall 
point out the path of virtue, and set you on 
your way, and there shall be great rejoicing 
among the angels over one sinner that re- 
pen teth !” 

She ended with a merry laugh, leaning 
toward the German with an indescribable air 
of camaraderie difficult indeed to resist. 

As the roguish eyes of Mademoiselle Eunice 
were raised to his, Cragfels, hesitating uneasily 


1 6 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


on the precipitous cliff of suspicion, with sudden 
rashness cast himself down deep into that sea 
of indiscretion the waves of which have closed 
over many a shrewder head. 

“It is Broadnax,” he commenced in the 
French, which he invariably embellished with 
his own guttural expressions. 

“What! not your American friend? I 
thought a man’s friendship was not like a 
woman’s, subject to change.” 

The brightness of Mademoiselle’s smile had 
somewhat dimmed. 

For one instant the head of Cragfels ap- 
peared above the waves as he noted a different 
quality in the voice, but immediately, with the 
lightest possible touch on his rough locks, the 
tiny white hand of Mademoiselle Eunice sent 
him remorselessly down, never again to rise to 
the surface. 

“Why do you receive him here? Why do 
you allow him to take you everywhere? When 
I ask if you care for him or me, you tell me it 
is for me; then when you are with him you 
care not whether you speak to me or not; I 
will not stand it. Ach! Do you love me, Eu- 
nice, at all, that you can so torture me?” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


17 


He grasped the little hand beside him with a 
fervor that caused Eunice to exclaim something 
that sounded like “imbecile!” She pulled her 
hand away in real or feigned anger, the color 
tinting her fair cheeks becomingly as she 
answered with spirit : 

“No! Monsieur Cragfels, of a certainty I 
do not love you the least little bit when you are 
in such a shocking bad humor; and for why,” 
she continued more excitedly, “should I not 
enjoy the society of Monsieur Broadnax, who 
is of a sweet temper and says amusing things, 
while you simply say you adore me, but cannot 
marry me? Mon Dieu! that is truly a pretty 
reason!” 

The beaded tip of Mademoiselle’s slipper 
tapped the floor in quick time as she sat up 
very straight and delivered her volley of indig- 
nation straight at the fourth button of the Ger- 
man’s coat. 

“But!” she interrupted herself, “you have 
not told you why two etre en disaccord!” 

There was, in place of anger, a truly femi- 
nine ring of curiosity in her voice as she re- 
garded her companion in rather more friendly 
manner. 


1 8 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“You are the real cause, I think, my charm- 
ing one,” Cragfels answered, exasperated and 
yet fascinated by the whimsical little creature 
beside him. 

“He comes here, an American, pretends to a 
friendship with me, gladly accepts of the hos- 
pitality of my friends, makes love to you in his 
irresponsible way, uses all of us, and then ridi- 
cules us behind our backs,” he continued sav- 
agely. “It is unbearable. He considered it 
amusing that circumstances prevent my marry- 
ing you ; laughed at me !” 

“You told Monsieur Broadnax the reason, 
perhaps?” 

“I — ” Cragfels hesitated. 

He had mentioned once to Eunice that what- 
ever life held in store for him as his future was 
bound up in some curious way with a piece of 
jewelry, but that was all, and he had no partic- 
ular wish to explain further. 

Seeing his evident hesitation. Mademoiselle 
decided immediately that there must be a much 
more substantial foundation for the slight ex- 
planation she had heard, which, to tell the truth, 
she had imagined to be only one of those light 
and airy structures erected by the imagination 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 19 

of man when hard pressed by a woman’s inquisi- 
tiveness. 

“Yes?” she murmured in gentle encourage- 
ment; “you,” — then sadly: “Alas, you do not 
trust me! Is it thus you offer love, withhold- 
ing your confidence? Parbleu, what a nature!” 

Her hands clasped, and body shrinking 
slightly from him, expressed a delicate horror, 
while the childish eyes looked up reproachfully. 

He was a brute! Cragfels realized it with 
a conviction that no orator nor logician could 
have confuted. 

“Ach, Liebschen! but you must not hate me; 
I may tell but little, yet see, you shall believe 
me; my life is ruled by this. I cannot tell you 
more, save only that I may not marry you yet, 
perhaps never.” 

Eunice had permitted the German’s clumsily 
tender arm to gather her and numerous cushions 
to a closer proximity; with the other hand he 
drew the beautiful old chain from his neck, 
holding it with the bracelet before her inquisi- 
tive gaze. Mademoiselle fairly shrieked her 
little exclamations of ecstacy, while her eyes 
devoured every detail of its exquisite workman- 
ship with an intensity of appreciation that in a 


20 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


less lovely being we might be tempted to call 
covetousness. 

Nothing would suffice but she must place the 
bracelet upon her own fair arm. 

“See!” she chirped, “I am like a prisoned 
bird, and,” — tugging playfully, — “you are my 
cruel captor, who keeps me chained. When I 
grow weary of struggling perhaps I shall fly 
back to you and rest.” 

As the words fell from her lips in low, caress- 
ing tones she leaned her head against the region 
where she calculated the palpitating heart of 
the now thoroughly tamed brute should be. 

It were indeed charity to impute to blindness 
the lack of justice which prompted Made- 
moiselle Eunice to weigh her one grain of 
pleasure against her companion’s bushel of pain. 

As the manacled arm was raised for his ad- 
miration and approval Cragfels drew it to his 
lips, imprinting kisses thereon with a fervor that 
caused the lips of Mademoiselle to curve in a 
contemptuous smile as the German’s head was 
bowed. 

“It has its proper place,” he murmured. “I 
can find it in my heart to envy this bit of inani- 
mate gold.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


21 


“Ah! what it is to possess such a perfect 
jewel 1” Mademoiselle sighed. “Do you know, 
all my life have I longed for a pearl of this 
marvelous rose-pink. Mon Dieu 1 it is hard to 
be always in the grasp of that monstre, pau- 
vrete!” 

Mademoiselle shuddered; yet looking at the 
walls and furniture of the apartment, and 
finally at the lady herself, gowned in accordance 
with her Parisian birth and training, one would 
feel disinclined to credit her words with their 
natural interpretation. 

“I shall never have the happiness of owning 
such a bracelet, but I may wear this just a little 
while? Yes? Ah, but you are so good!” she 
chattered on, not waiting for a reply. 

“I will be so very careful; and you do not 
have a conception how happy it makes me just 
to wear it one little minute — and I shall remem- 
ber ever how my Cragfels had kept it always 
upon his heart!” 

Seeing the happiness imparted by the mere 
toying with the ornament, Cragfels found it 
utterly impossible to refuse the gratification of 
a whim which made Mademoiselle Eunice so 
tender and affectionate. When the blue eyes 


22 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


begged mutely for the golden circlet the posses- 
sion of which entailed great responsibility, he 
unclasped the chain and left the bracelet upon 
the arm it adorned so well. 

“I cannot give to to you, little butterfly, and 
I may not let you keep it long; but for a little 
while it shall rest upon that beautiful arm, and 
then, when I again wear it upon its chain, I 
shall fancy it holds with it your love for me, to 
console my heart always.” 

Her countenance assuming an expression of 
gentle appreciation. Mademoiselle Eunice con- 
cealed the intensity of her satisfaction, and as 
her ardent admirer rose to go she continued her 
strain of flattery, filling in industriously, with 
the padding of sweet words, every crevice of 
his brain through which might chance to blow 
the searching wind of common sense. 

She followed him to the door and bade him 
a gay au revoir. 


CHAPTER II 


Several days had elapsed since the conver- 
sation between Cragfels and the American re- 
corded in the last chapter, and as Broadnax 
wended his way through the lighted streets of 
the old city one would hardly fancy him to be 
deserving of the German’s vehement denuncia- 
tion. 

A living testimonial to the arts of tailoring 
and valeting, his undeniably handsome coun- 
tenance, and a certain careless independence in 
his swinging stride, saved him from being 
herded with the vast throng of nonentities. 

It was not a longing to commune with nature 
that had drawn him from the warmth and com- 
fort of his apartments; no thought of the 
unique history of the city, the scene of medieval 
struggle and romantic legend, passed through 
the mind of this young scion of a new race and 
civilization; if his keen eyes peered before him 
intently, it was not toward the distant Castle 
hill, where, against the moon-illumined sky, 
were traced faint outlines of the ruins of the 
most beautiful of all German castles. 

(33) 


24 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Improved in turn by Rupert and succeeding 
electors, it had continued for centuries to gaze 
with the mild benevolence of advanced age from 
its commanding position, far across the gliding 
Neckar at its feet, over the intervening valleys, 
toward the glistening waters of the Rhine. 

Alas! it must be admitted any admiration 
Stanley felt for the marvelously beautiful tapes- 
try of nature was excited only as the variously 
woven threads completed a whole serviceable 
as a background for his own adventures. 

Returning with a cordiality tempered with in- 
difference the greetings of acquaintances whom 
he met, he continued on his way, his brows con- 
tracted now and then, seeming to indicate a 
train of thought not wholly agreeable ; such was 
indeed the case. 

His very liberal allowance had of late not 
sufficed for what he termed his needs, and the 
lack had frequently been supplied by his win- 
nings at poker, which he, together with other 
Americans, had introduced among their German 
associates, greatly to Stanley’s pecuniary advan- 
tage, as has been hinted. But, notwithstanding 
the assistance thus rendered, the young man now 
found himself in an embarrassing position. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


25 


His father quite realized his own liberality in 
the matter of allowance, and would scarcely be 
inclined to further generosity. On the other 
hand, there were debts that refused to be again 
deferred. Clearly, then, his only resource was 
to win, with no possibility of failure, a good 
round sum from the Goddess Chance, appearing 
to-night in the guise of several companions who 
were to meet at the house toward which his steps 
were now directed. 

It was the same one of which Cragfels had 
spoken, the home of the Countess Geyelin, a 
middle-aged widow whose husband had left her 
well provided with the gifts of Mammon, and 
whose genial heart, having no family in which 
to interest itself, found a certain satisfaction in 
assembling at her receptions all kinds of youth- 
ful strugglers, as well as artists of assured posi- 
tion, for the purpose of enjoying themselves in 
whatever way they found most agreeable. The 
hospitality and kindly disposition of the Coun- 
tess made her evenings all that hostess or guest 
could desire. 

Stanley mounted the broad steps of gray 
stone, in keeping with the solid structure of ivy- 


26 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


covered stucco built to withstand the wear and 
tear of time and usage. 

The heavy doors were thrown open by a 
venerable footman wearing the Geyelin livery, 
a relic of medieval gorgeousness. 

Above the low conversational hum the strains 
of a rich contralto voice singing one of Ra- 
koczy’s stirringly beautiful melodies reached 
him; he paused a moment to listen as the 
singer’s voice rose to fuller and intenser feeling, 
telling the story of strong romantic patriotism 
that has ever been the theme of Magyar poets 
and musicians. 

The notes of voice and piano mingled in a 
grand finale of exultant triumph — a glory never 
more to be dimmed; but with prophetic pathos 
the strains of the violin lingered on: for the 
future there might be freedom and joy, but there 
was still suffering to be borne ere the goal be 
reached. 

The wide hall was lighted by great lamps 
resting on high bronze pedestals, or on iron 
wrought in fantastic shapes ; delicate tinted 
shades softening their light. 

Partially concealed where he stood by the 
tapestry portiere, Broadnax had not been ob- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 27 

served by a group of men on the other side of 
the hall. They were evidently discussing some 
one and Stanley caught the words spoken in a 
rather higher key : 

“Oh, it will be done to-night, never fear; 
Cragfels has brought old Erkstein on purpose.” 

The tones were again lowered and he heard 
no more. 

Entering the room at the door of which he 
had paused, Stanley made his way from group 
to group of gayly attired guests in animated 
conversation. A young American student had 
followed the artist’s Hungarian melody with a 
minstrel song, and was now explaining the mys- 
tery of a darky breakdown. 

Stanley noted the utter lack of restraint, the 
genuine pleasure everywhere evident as he 
strolled toward the divan on which he had 
caught a glimpse of the Countess, laughing as 
gayly as the most youthful of her friends. 

After remaining with the guests gathered 
about her long enough to ascertain the informa- 
tion that Madamoiselle Eunice was unable to 
come, Broadnax passed on, through an adjoin- 
ing room where a game of billiards was in 
progress, to a smaller apartment. Jt was here 


28 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


that those desiring the amusement afforded by 
cards were wont to assemble. 

As he entered, an exceedingly military-look- 
ing young man came sauntering toward him. 

“Eh, Broadnax, you will play to-night?” 

Something in the way the question was asked 
annoyed the latter, and he answered with an 
irritating smile: 

“With pleasure, if you will promise, in the 
name of the Army, not to bankrupt a poor 
civilian, my General!” 

The jest did not appeal to the young ensign, 
as he had lost repeatedly to the American, and 
he stalked off, his complacency a bit ruffled. 

Several tables were forming; some for bacar- 
rat, others for pinochle, and one table for the 
American game of poker. 

It was toward this last table that Stanley 
made his way, laughing and joking with his 
friends in his usual debonair manner. 

It was a gay crowd that gathered about this 
particular table, and the betting ran high. 

The first hand in the game was about to be 
dealt, when Broadnax, looking up from where 
he sat facing the door, beheld, with a feeling 
akin to uneasiness, the entrance of two men. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


29 


One was Cragfels, the other a distinguished- 
looking man of perhaps fifty, whom he did not 
recognize. 

Advancing toward the poker table, Cragfels 
and his companion, who seemed to be known to 
most of the men, exchanged greetings with more 
than ordinary cordiality. 

Stanley had at first avoided Cragfel’s eye, but 
as room was made at the opposite side of the 
table to accommodate the last arrivals, he 
glanced up at his former comrade with an air 
of casual indifference he was far from feeling. 
This exuberance of spirits was unnatural in the 
German, and Stanley found it disquieting. If 
he had wondered how Cragfels would behave 
he was not kept long in suspense. 

Seating himself deliberately, Cragfels met the 
glance of his vis-a-vis squarely. 

“Ah, good evening, Broadnax,” he said, his 
large smile expressing anything but pleasure, 
while the long saber scar upon his left cheek 
seemed to stand out with exceptional distinct- 
ness, giving a rather sinister expression to his 
usually stolid countenance. 

“I think you have not met my friend Herr 
Erkstein,” laying his hand on the shoulder of 


30 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

the man sitting next him. “Herr Broadnax,” 
he continued to the older man, “is an American 
who has found us slow Germans pleasant oppon- 
ents in this game of poker. He is a very suc- 
cessful player.” 

As Stanley and Erkstein acknowledged the 
existence of each other, Cragfels had spoken the 
last words with a distinctness that seemed to in- 
sinuate rather more than their apparent mean- 
ing; however, Stanley decided it was to his ad- 
vantage to let it pass; but he would be cautious. 

His resolution held good during the early 
stages of the game, and he lost frequently with 
a good grace. 

Feeling that his enemy, as Cragfels’s manner 
had proved to him to be beyond a doubt, had 
by this time been thrown completely off his 
guard, Broadnax commenced earnestly his real 
play; winning slowly, with an occasional loss, 
he felt he was working gradually toward the 
desired goal. At times he thought he detected 
a slight strain of expectancy in the smoke- 
charged atmosphere that hung over the card 
tables, but he banished the fancy impatiently, 
assuring himself it was merely imagination. 

Persuaded that his discretion had placed him 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


31 


beyond any chance of suspicion, he won rather 
more heavily. Waiting a good opportunity, 
he drew on the one man remaining “in,” feel- 
ing that the end of his present financial difficulty 
was near. Being “called,” he laid down his 
cards with the calmness of assured success. 

As his unfortunate opponent placed his hand 
upon the table, inferior by one card to Stanley’s, 
the latter reached out with a nonchalant air to 
take in the notes so invitingly piled before him, 
only to hear the guttural accents of his erst- 
while friend saying, as with his hand he covered 
the enticing pile: 

“Himmel, no!” And rising in his excite- 
ment, he cried, pointing down at Broadnax: 
“Cheat! Scoundrel! Touch not that money! 
You shall answer to me for this, and many other 
things.” 

“You lie! stupid blockhead that you are!” 
burst out Broadnax, furious at the imminent 
disgrace. “Take back your words, damn you, 
or I’ll teach you a new trick in eating!” 

“Not so fast, my young fire-eater,” interposed 
Herr Erkstein, so far a silent spectator of the 
scene. “Before you scatter your words so 
rashly, just permit me to take from your sleeve 


32 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

that other ace. Ah! so,” as he coolly slipped 
from Stanley’s sleeve the card neatly lodged 
there. 

“It would seem you have not taught my 
friends the typically American way of playing 
this game,” he added in accents of biting sar- 
casm as he held high the missing card. 

Hardly allowing Erkstein to finish, Cragfels 
bent toward his foe, saying in a voice thick with 
suppressed anger:- 

“To-night my seconds will call upon you, 
Herr Broadnax, and to-morrow at sunrise I 
will teach you what a stupid German thinks of 
a card-cheater, and” — hissing the last words at 
him — “a flattering dissembler!” 

Even as the words were spoken, Broadnax 
had reached his decision. At first the shock of 
exposure had stunned him, and then his brain 
had worked rapidly. Not a ghost of a chance 
for him in a duel with his enemy, a skilled 
swordsman, and pistols were usually tabooed as 
too likely to bring on the Schutzmann. 

No, his only course was to rush events. 

He had been standing, and as the last words 
fell from Cragfels’s lips he replied with a taunt- 
ing smile: 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 33 

“In my country we have a saying, ‘never put 
off till to-morrow what you can do to-day,’ ” 
altering by emphasis the meaning of the proverb 
to meet the present emergency, and following 
his tantalizing speech with a telling blow on 
the German’s jaw. 

Most of the men had crowded to Broadnax’s 
side of the table when Erkstein had taken the 
card from him. 

As Cragfels staggered back a pace from the 
blow, his eyes fell upon a rapier on the wall 
behind him, a weapon of excellent metal and of 
great value as a curio. His mind in a whirl of 
rage, he forgot the fact of his being in the house 
of a lady, and all other considerations which at 
another time would have weighed. To snatch 
the gleaming sword from its fastening was the 
work of a moment, yet it gave Stanley his chance. 

Clearing the table at a bound, he rushed on 
his adversary, throwing the full weight of his 
body against him, and at the same time striv- 
ing to fling one arm about his neck; but the 
German turned too quickly, and with the full 
swing of his raised arm brought down the 
jeweled hilt of the rapier with terrific force on 
Broadnax’s shoulder, grazing the side of his 


34 the german bracelet 

head as he did so, bearing him down, down, till 
his knees bent beneath him, and he fell, to be 
caught by one of the surrounding crowd, now 
wildly endeavoring to separate the two men. 

It had all taken but a few seconds, and as the 
men’s voices were now raised in excitement, each 
one suggesting a different course, there appeared 
upon the scene the least desired of all people — 
the Countess Geyelin, her countenance express- 
ing lively displeasure as she paused midway in 
the room, inquiring in coldly surprised voice : 

“The cause of this strange commotion, gentle- 
men, if you please?” 

A painful pause followed the Countess’ in- 
terrogatory command, to be broken at last by 
Herr Erkstein, who, advancing toward his 
hostess, bowed. 

“I regret, more than it is possible to express, 
my dear Countess, that your gracious hospitality 
should have been thus abused. The disturbance 
was caused by the discovery of cheating at one 
of the tables. The affair would have been con- 
cluded according to the usual custom had not 
this excitable person preferred to arrange it 
differently. I, in the name of all concerned, 
beg you will pardon the breach of etiquette, and 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 35 

permit us to conclude this disagreeable incident 
without your being further annoyed.” 

As he ceased speaking the Countess asked in 
somewhat mollified tones : 

“Where is the individual who caused this 
trouble?” 

Several men who had been standing in front 
of Broadnax moved away, and as Erkstein in- 
dicated him the Countess gazed upon the young 
man with ill-concealed contempt. 

Truly he was not to be envied; the physical 
blow, like the previous mental shock, had 
stunned his brain momentarily, only to cause it 
to work with lightning-like speed immediately 
afterward. He, the perfectly groomed, the 
debonair, the adored of the fair sex, to be 
standing thus, disheveled, utterly humiliated, 
before these men, glancing away in confusion 
from the eyes of the charming woman before 
him — for all of this, something whispered, there 
was but one man to thank, and that man stood 
gloating with malicious enjoyment over his 
degradation. 

Fancy pictured him telling it afterward to all 
his friends — perhaps to Mademoiselle Eunice. 


36 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


These thoughts passed quickly through his 
mind, even as he heard his hostess speaking. 

“Herr Broadnax,” she was saying, “my 
friendship and the open hospitality of my home 
have been yours ; when you leave my house this 
evening you will cease to possess either. Gen- 
tlemen, good night.” 

She turned with dignity, and with stately 
tread rejoined the few remaining guests in the 
salon, who took their departure almost imme- 
diately. 

How he reached his apartment that night 
Stanley never clearly remembered. 

Several friends who had stood by him, if not 
in his misdeeds, yet in his misfortune, helped 
him home, where it was discovered that his 
collar-bone was broken. 

With this properly set, and his bruised head 
bandaged, he finally lost the first intensity of his 
suffering in a heavy sleep. 


CHAPTER III 


The actor in the drama of life who is forced 
into a ridiculous role has not the consolation 
derived from a consciousness of artistic inter- 
pretation, backed by a substantial salary, that 
tends to soothe the vanity of those who portray 
the absurd and ludicrous side of human nature 
to an audience of fellow-beings. 

There is, to almost every man, a certain role 
which he feels himself more competent to play 
than most men, and if destiny has, as in an 
occasional good humor she does, arranged that 
he should be cast for that part, he will have in 
himself a most sympathetic and appreciative 
critic. 

Stanley had always rather admired his de- 
lineation of the character-part assigned him, and 
never, till this last unfortunate scene, had he 
viewed himself unfavorably. 

For the two days following his evening at 
the Countess’s he had laid strict orders on his 
servant to admit absolutely no one, and the lat- 
ter, having cause to remember his master’s 
( 37 ) 


38 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


wrath over his having once presumed to trust his 
own judgment on a similar occasion, adhered to 
his commands scrupulously. 

On the third morning the racking pain having 
left his head, and his shoulder feeling more 
comfortable, Broadnax announced, toward noon, 
his intention of rising. 

His humor was still such that the valet made 
as much haste as possible with his toilet, com- 
menting to a chosen friend afterward, “The Vir- 
ginia gentleman is just the finest when every- 
thing’s fair and smooth, but when ’e’s hungry — 
I’d as lief be serving Satan ’isself !” 

Stanley’s deep leather chair drawn well up to 
the window of his sitting-room, a box of choice 
cigars on the table beside him, which also held a 
vase filled with red roses, softer and richer than 
velvet, and a book clasped idly in one long, white 
hand, would suggest to the casual observer a pic- 
ture of comparative comfort, but Stanley was 
not comfortable; he gazed out of his window, 
unnoting the beautiful landscape stretching be- 
fore him to the mountains beyond, clothed in 
restful green, above which the sun shone brightly 
in a sapphire sky. His brows were drawn to a 
scowl, and the dark eyes beneath would scarcely 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


39 


have charmed man or woman with their present 
expression. ^ 

“I’m in a devil of a mess!” he ejaculated 
aloud, and the full, pleasure-seeking lips from 
which the words fell hardly seemed capable of 
the firmness requisite to straighten out a serious 
tangle. Whatever he did must be done soon; 
he must decide upon some course. 

His cogitations were interrupted by the en- 
trance of Watson, who stated that a lady de- 
sired to see him — should he admit her? 

“Did she give her name, Watson?” Stanley 
inquired, wondering what adventurous feminine 
had thus braved the conventions through inter- 
est in his welfare. 

“No, sir, the lady didn’t give 'er name, sir.” 

“Well, show her in; and, Watson,” as the 
man was leaving the room, “if any one else 
should call while the lady’s here, say I can’t see 
any one till to-morrow.” 

“Very good, sir.” 

As Stanley rose to greet his fair visitor, ad- 
vancing into the room with a swish of soft silk 
and a flutter of chiffon, exhaling a fragrance of 
heliotrope, he stifled an exclamation of surprise 
as the raised veil disclosed the golden hair and 


40 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


the bewitching countenance of Mademoiselle 
Eunice. 

“Ah, Mademoiselle, this is indeed heavenly 
charity,” he murmured, retaining his guest’s 
hand in both of his, and looking down into her 
eyes with unconcealed admiration and — was 
there more than that? Mademoiselle fancied 
that perhaps there was. 

When Stanley led her to the chair near his 
own she settled herself gracefully, and smiling 
gayly, exclaimed: 

“You see, I heard such dreadful things, and 
I was beginning to believe you had been mur- 
dered, and so I felt it my duty to find out the 
truth; but tell me,” with an air of concern, 
“what was this affair, of which one hears all 
manner of report, and were you seriously hurt? 
Of course you know that dreadful Cragfels has 
started absurd stories about you, and” — she 
paused, and then resumed hurriedly, — “people 
are so credulous ; but I knew it was all just ma- 
licious gossip. Tell me about it, will you not, 
that I may contradict these rumors?” 

What should he say to her? She might prove 
rather useful if only he proceeded with tact and 
diplomacy. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


41 


Resting his head against the back of the chair 
he half closed his eyes wearily, as with a rather 
bitter smile he replied, 

“My dear friend, I of course do not know 
what my enemies are saying of me, and the truth 
is a story of envy and unscrupulous hatred far 
too unlovely for those little ears of yours; but 
as long as you do not believe the calumnies 
against me, it matters little ; the physical injury 
is slight, and as it has brought me the sunshine 
of your society I am even grateful for it.” 

Stanley was fairly in awe of his own unex- 
ampled nobility. 

Mademoiselle’s eyes were very tender. She 
crossed over to a low tabouret close beside Stan- 
ley’s chair, and seating herself leaned forward 
toward him, saying gently: 

“Ah, Monsieur, you are too generous to those 
wicked ones ; it is not a wonder that men should 
fear and envy you, for what woman would see 
any other when you are near? Mon Dieu!” as 
if a sudden thought had occurred to her, “it was 
perhaps for such a cause — ” she hesitated. 

His way was pointed out to Stanley. Gazing 
deep into her eyes with a look that was in itself 
an answer, he raised her hand from the arm of 


42 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


his chair where it rested, and pressed his lips 
upon it with a devotion beyond the expression 
of mere words as he replied softly : 

“Your feminine intuition has guessed it. A 
woman was the cause ; the sweetest woman that 
ever taught a man to know the joy and misery 
of love.” 

Mademoiselle laid her other hand, from 
which the glove had been removed, over the 
larger one, which still clasped her own, but a 
startled exclamation from Stanley caused her to 
look up in surprise to see him leaning forward, 
his eyes fastened on the bracelet which encircled 
her slender wrist. Recovering himself, Broadnax 
feigned to examine the trinket, saying easily : 

“Pardon, Mademoiselle, might I look at that 
bracelet? For a moment its similarity to one 
possessing a peculiar interest somewhat startled 
me. What a beautiful thing it is — rather un- 
usual looking, isn’t it? Were it not impossible, 
I should declare it to be one I had seen. But 
I suppose it is an heirloom?” he concluded in- 
terrogatively. 

“It is, as you say. Monsieur, an heirloom, but 
not of my family; it was given me by a friend, 
and I have never taken it off since I received it.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 43 

Stanley caressed the little white hand as he 
said in tenderest tones: 

“Perhaps it is, after all, then, the bracelet I 
referred to; would it be indiscreet to ask if it 
were not Otto Cragfels who had given it to 
you?” 

Now Mademoiselle Eunice was far too eco- 
nomical to use so valuable a commodity as a lie 
wastefully, so she quietly answered with an air 
that bespoke the consciousness of her virtuous 
candor : 

“It was, even as you say, from Monsieur 
Cragfels I accepted this; but you must believe, 
it was before he had proved himself such a 
monster of hatred towards you. Parbleu! to 
merely think that I should have to blame myself 
for your suffering, because I could not help show- 
ing, like any school-girl, the preference my heart 
feels for you, and now, — Dieu ! I cannot do 
so much as one least thing to revenge or console 
you.” 

The golden head was bowed in bitter sorrow, 
but the shell-like ears listened eagerly for the 
words she trusted she should hear. 

“Would you help me, little one?” Stanley’s 
other hand rested on Mademoiselle’s shoulder 


44 the german bracelet 


as he continued: “You could enable me to re- 
venge myself — ” breaking off abruptly, “No, I 
will not suggest it !” 

He drew away his hand, and leaned back in 
his chair, apparently decided. 

But the fair visitor was not to be put off thus. 

“Have I not said my heart proclaims you 
first, above all others; do you fancy it would 
falter in a service for you? Tell me what my 
small power can accomplish, and I will not hesi- 
tate.” 

“I will take you at your word, and, after all, 
it is not a hard thing I ask; merely that you will 
permit me to keep, as a souvenir of these happy 
moments, that bracelet which Cragfels pre- 
sented to you; truly that is sufficient revenge 
for me, that I should possess as a pledge of your 
affection a gift which is at the same time the 
tribute of his love!” 

The heavily fringed lids of Mademoiselle’s 
eyes were discreetly lowered so their expression 
could only be a matter of conjecture, but Stanley 
fancied he detected a slight straightening of the 
lips that had seemed a moment before to express 
such childlike submissiveness. 

She remained silent a few moments, as if in 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


45 


indecision, and finally, shaking her head, looked 
up, a picture of innocent conflict between duty 
and inclination. 

“But, Monsieur, that is different now”; then 
noticing his sarcastic smile, she rose suddenly, 
and went to the window, her profile turned from 
him. 

“Oh, the devil!” muttered Broadnax per- 
plexedly. “What the deuce must I do?” then 
aloud : 

“No; Eunice, I do not understand; it is my 
masculine stupidity that’s responsible, I presume. 
But you might enlighten me.” 

“You see,” she began, “I have always felt 
something resembling a scruple about things — 
strange, you say, for me, who am so frivolous; 
yet, it is as I say, and I feel it would be wrong 
to give this bracelet to you; it” — she hesi- 
tated — “it is not the same as if you would com- 
mand me to give it to you, force me to obey 
you — Ah, I cannot explain more!” 

It was sufficient; Stanley saw he must pay a 
heavy cost for that bracelet, but he felt it was 
worth the price. He rose and followed Eunice 
to the window, leaning against the frame in a 
most graceful attitude; his glance wandering 


46 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


over the distant mountains listlessly while he 
spoke with a quiet finality : 

“Do not distress yourself, Eunice; after all, 
it matters very little, as I said before; I shall 
soon be away from here, and I shall not burden 
my mind with thoughts of my enemies. It would 
have brightened the dullness of my life to know 
your love was mine, to carry the pledge of your 
affection with me while I finish the course of 
travel which my father has exacted a promise 
for, and then to have come back, knowing you 
would redeem your pledge.” 

At the mention of his early departure 
Mademoiselle’s face was turned toward him 
anxiously, and as he finished speaking she 
stepped close to him, placing her clasped hands 
upon his breast in pretty confidence. 

“Stanley, mon ami, you must not go away 
from your Eunice, and for you to believe I do 
not love you, — ah, mon Dieu! — I, who will 
prove my words now. I will explain to you — it 
is like this: To save me from the reproaches of 
my conscience you shall write a little contract, 
a promise to marry me, and we will sign it, and 
have even a witness. It is a farce, yes? Well, 
it is nothing to us, you and me, but I must obey 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


47 

you thus, and what do I care for that great 
brute when you are my affianced husband?” 

Holding him lightly by the lapel of his coat, 
Eunice bent her golden head back, smiling at 
him, yet watching furtively from beneath half- 
closed lids the effect of her words. 

So that was her game, was it? Broadnax 
shouted a mental bravo at her cunning, at the 
same time cursing his own ill-luck. Well, he 
had started the game, and now he’d see it to the 
finish. 

“Truly, Eunice, you are my angel of deliver- 
ance!” cried Stanley, a ring of joyous satisfac- 
tion in his voice that deceived even the fair ac- 
tress before him. “Come, we will settle this at 
once, for it is as well that you should not be seen 
here.” 

Seating himself at his desk, he wrote, with 
suggestions from Mademoiselle Eunice, peering 
over his shoulder, a contract by which he bound 
himself to marry the aforesaid lady at the ex- 
piration of one year’s time from date. Without 
more ado he signed it, and calling Watson as 
witness, desired him to affix his signature, which 
the latter did, retiring immediately. 

Mademoiselle unclasped the bracelet and gave 


48 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


it to Stanley, after he had placed in her hands 
the contract. 

“Just to protect me from those conscience 
stings,” she murmured, her blue eyes gleaming 
with some emotion, presumably love. She took 
her departure at once, Stanley declaring he was 
quite well enough to visit her on the morrow, 
when they would make more definite plans for 
their future. 

As the door closed upon Mademoiselle Eu- 
nice, Stanley heaved a deep sigh, and with the 
idea of concluding his half-formed plans re- 
sorted to the masculine consolation of a cigar, 
and returned again to the comfortable leather 
chair. He gave the unoffending tabouret on 
which his guest’s airy form had rested a vicious 
kick that sent it in one direction, and its cushion 
in another. His irritation somewhat soothed, 
he turned his thoughts on his own situation. 

Of course he was socially ostracised by now, 
Cragfels had seen to that. The Countess Geye- 
lin was socially a prominent factor, and her door 
being closed upon him would result in his being 
debarred from the circle in which he had until 
now been so welcome. Then the tradespeople — 
Heavens! what bills he owed; and such credi- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 49 

tors are the quickest to clamor around the pit- 
iable figure of a dethroned social favorite. 

As Mademoiselle had talked his resolution 
was vaguely outlined, and the events following 
had determined him to act on the approved Im- 
pulse. 

The bracelet gave him his only chance of re- 
taliation, and though he had little or no Idea of 
Its definite significance to Cragfels, he yet real- 
ized thoroughly that It must have a very excep- 
tional Importance since he had said It ruled his 
destiny. The more he thought of It the surer 
he felt that he had dealt a blow which would 
seriously cripple his adversary. At the thought 
his lips parted In a low, chuckling laugh of ap- 
peased malice. His cigar finished, he decided to 
put his plans Into execution. 

First he must get rid of Watson; he rang, 
and upon the valet’s appearance told him that 
he was leaving town for an Indefinite time, and 
would be forced to dispense with his services, 
but would give him such references as would 
easily obtain for him another situation. Having 
some ready money In hand which he had ex- 
pected to use far otherwise, he paid the man, 
telling him at the same time to pack up certain 
4 


50 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


things of his own preparatory to his departure 
that night. 

After settling his account with his landlady 
he dined early, and having completed his ar- 
rangements, bade Watson a very cheerful 
good-by. 

Entering the cab which waited in readiness 
for him, Stanley had himself and such light lug- 
gage as he took with him driven to the railway 
station, where he took the night train for Paris. 

Seated in his compartment he reviewed the 
situation, and decided he would not delay at the 
French capital, but reach Calais as soon as pos- 
sible. He was fortunate in making compara- 
tively close connections at Paris with the north- 
bound train for Calais, and there took the boat 
to Dover. 

The chalk-bordered channel was rough, and 
Stanley did not enjoy the crossing, but devoutly 
hoped that the voyage across the Atlantic would 
be pleasant enough to efface the disagreeable 
impression which he had retained of his first trip 
over when on his way to Heidelberg. He was 
by no means a good sailor, and memory again 
brought to mind several days when he had be- 
gun by fearing lest his illness would surely result 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


51 


In death, and then gradually the dread had 
changed to a despairing desire for even death 
as a relief from the misery of his suffering ex- 
istence. 

From Dover he journeyed to London by rail; 
thence to Liverpool, where he took the steamer 
for the States. 

When the calmness of the sea permitted him 
to enjoy the bracing freshness of the salt air 
Stanley would pace the deck by the hour, as if 
rapid motion could annihilate time. 

What should he do with the bracelet now that 
he had it in his possession? Put it in a vault 
for safe keeping? Yes, he could do that, but 
why not give it to Irene to wear as a souvenir 
of his travels? It would be safe enough so, and 
it was always obtainable too. If Cragfels gave 
chase it would then be time enough to take other 
precautionary measures. In the mean time, it 
would make a handsome present. It was surely 
a whimsical idea to bestow a conditional gift, 
thought Stanley, laughing. 

He did not worry about Mademoiselle Eu- 
nice and his engagement; it was not the first 
time he had broken faith with a woman. 


CHAPTER IV 


What Irene Broadnax’s thoughts were as she 
gazed at the tiny fish in the stream below would 
be a vain surmise. 

Seated upon the loose planks that from ac- 
tual service had earned the title of bridge, this 
bit of Southern girlhood, against all recognized 
code of feminine decorum, swung one daintily 
formed foot with a rhythmic movement sugges- 
tive of a mind immersed in day-dreams. 

From out her cabin near by old Mammy Rose 
appeared upon the scene, and approaching her 
young mistress raised her voice in excited ac- 
cents. 

“Gude Lawd, Miss Renie child, ain’ yo’ got 
no fear in yo’ dat yo’ kin set yo’self down, way 
off here, like a temptin’ mo’sel fo’ dem Yankees 
to eat? Yo’ jes stedy’n ’bout dat young Mars 
Jun’us, I know; but lemme tole yo’, honey, dat 
I ’spec’ dem Yank’s bullets hab marked he coun- 
tenance fo’ dis. Yo’ better git dat silber and 
jew’lry hide fo’ de nex’ reg’ment come ’long!” 

Irene had apparently not heard Mammy 
(52) 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


53 


Rose’s first words, but as the harangue con- 
tinued the red-capped head with its rebellious 
brown curls bent lower, and the intent eyes 
darkened as they gazed deep into the sparkling 
brook below ; finally the rhythmic motion of the 
little foot quickened, and suddenly stopped. 

“Mammy,” she said, turning toward the 
usually good-natured but now impatient negress, 
“don’t you suppose there’s anything I could do 
that would keep those horrid soldiers from 
taking what little is left ? Think of mother and 
father!” 

Irene had risen while speaking, and, walking 
beside Mammy Rose, ascended the hill on the 
summit of which the great house stood with an 
air of indolent superiority. 

Wide galleries shaded by rich green vines sur- 
rounded the house on three sides, while the great 
front door, with its imposing pillars and broad 
steps, formed the principal feature of the re- 
maining side. Stately old oaks spread patron- 
izing branches over the more youthful palms 
and shrubs that dotted the spacious lawn, slop- 
ing gracefully toward the main road, across 
which ran a rippling stream, giving the motif 
for the Indian sobriquet of “Waqua.” 


54 the german bracelet 

As the two approached the house, distracted 
darkies were seen running about, waving their 
arms, and shrieking as only a scared African 
can. 

Realizing at once that another raid was in 
progress, Irene made the remainder of the hill 
on a swift run, and rushing through a side en- 
trance caught sight of her mother and father 
in the library, the latter remonstrating in no un- 
decided terms with the soldiers who thus en- 
tered his ancestral home with such absence of 
formality. 

Irene, seeing the men here, surmised they had 
not as yet reached the upper stories, and so 
hastened on, to hide what jewelry she and her 
mother still possessed. Reaching the door of 
her room, which was open, she paused sud- 
denly. 

A man in blue was rummaging with excited 
haste through the trinkets and ornaments upon 
her dressing-table. So immersed in his task was 
he that he had not heard the girl’s approach. 
With a muttered curse of evident disappoint- 
ment he turned suddenly, to look straight into a 
pair of violet-blue eyes, expressing at that mo- 
ment unutterable contempt. Making the best 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 55 

of a bad moment the soldier, as his uniform pro- 
claimed him to be, uncovering a fairly hand- 
some head, bowed with much grace and mili- 
tary precision. 

“I beg, most gracious Fraulein, you will be 
not alarmed,” he began with a marked Ger- 
man accent, but Irene’s look seemed rather dis- 
couraging, and he suddenly stopped. 

“You seem startled,” the girl remarked, and 
added quietly. “Don’t let me interrupt you; it 
appeared interesting.” 

As Irene spoke the man’s face reddened with 
irritation, making more prominent a scar on his 
left cheek; but with an attempt at suavity he 
replied : 

“It is a mistake; I seek for none of this,” in- 
dicating the derangement he had caused. “I 
look for a lost property,” he added, “and I have 
reason to believe it is here.” 

“Well, did you find it, may I ask?” the girl 
asked sarcastically, wondering uneasily if this 
were indeed a madman. 

“No, Fraulein, I have not found it thus far; 
but should it be here, you may rest assured I 
shall do so.” 

Wondering what the best course would be to 


S6 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

pursue with such an eccentric individual, Irene 
thoughtfully straightened her soft red cap pre- 
paratory to action; but as her arm was raised 
the man sprang toward her, grasping her wrist, 
and bringing her hand close before his eyes. 

“Ach! how did you get this?” he cried in a 
low, excited voice, at the same time endeavoring 
to unclasp a bracelet of rare workmanship and 
rather unique design. 

Convinced now that she was dealing with no 
ordinary soldier, Irene struggled with determin- 
ation, at the same time calling for assistance; 
sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs reached 
them, as with plain brute strength the man, un- 
able to unclasp the bracelet, pulled it over the 
hand with a wrench that left the soft flesh 
bruised. 

Even as Irene staggered backward, the room 
was filled with men, and one of these whose face 
even in that short moment won her confidence, 
strode toward the scowling German. 

“What the devil does this mean?” he de- 
manded. 

But Irene interrupted, her face pale, and the 
blue eyes bright with anger. 

“It means that he has stolen a bracelet off of 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


57 


my arm, as those other trinkets did not appeal 
to him. The bracelet is a gift from my brother, 
and I value it above everything.” 

At this she stopped, too proud to plead. 

The young captain had kept close to the Ger- 
man, and now tapped him on the arm and 
said: 

“You will return that bracelet to this lady 
at once, and you may omit all of those choice 
expressions you’re so fond of.” 

“You do not understand,” the German began, 
in a more conciliatory tone. “This is a posses- 
sion of mine. If I have hurt her hand, it was 
not with intention; but,” forgetting in the ex- 
citement of the moment their difference in rank, 
he added, “it is best that you do not concern 
yourself with this affair.” 

“That’s about enough, I guess,” the younger 
man interrupted sternly. “Hand over that 
bracelet I” 

The German hesitating, he aimed a well- 
directed blow at the latter’s wrathful counte- 
nance, but warded off, it reached his breathing 
regions, and in an instant the two men would 
have closed in a determined struggle had not 
fate, in the form of a little darky, decided other- 


58 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

wise. Unnoticed, he had wormed his way 
through the room till he stood just behind the 
German. As the idea that this severe-looking 
man was causing distress to his young “missus” 
finally penetrated his kinky pate, he felt he was 
called upon to do something, and knowing but 
one act that seemed appropriate to the occasion, 
he proceeded to do it. 

As the officer’s fist met the German’s body 
the little darky managed a clever trick he had 
been taught, of throwing a heavy body by a cer- 
tain tackle about the knees. 

As the furious man went down the soldier 
took advantage of his chance, and planting him- 
self solidly on his adversary’s prostrate form, 
forced open the clinched hand that held the 
bracelet. 

While he did so the German muttered sav- 
agely, “Der Teufel!” Then looking up he be- 
held the visage of the little African grinning 
down on him in malignant triumph, and felt his 
humiliation to be complete. 

When permitted to rise he did so in sullen 
silence, collecting his fragments of dignity as 
best he could. As the soldiers gradually left the 
room he followed slowly, turning at the door to 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 59 

scowl at his superior officer, while he flung a 
short menacing warning to Irene: 

“For you is luck to-day, but there is only one 
to-day, and many to-morrows; till then, Frau- 
lein, Aufwiedersehen !” 

As the steps of the German were heard de- 
scending the stairs, Irene turned to thank the 
blue-coat, only to find him watching her intently. 
It was seldom indeed that she found herself dis- 
concerted by the admiring scrutiny of masculine 
eyes, but at this instant she felt utterly at a loss 
for suitable words in which to express her grati- 
tude. 

While she still battled with her unusual con- 
fusion her father crossed the hall from the room 
in which he had been endeavoring to calm his 
wife’s nervous distress. Extending his hand 
with a gracious frankness he would an hour ago 
have declared it quite impossible for him to 
show to a Yankee, he thanked the young man 
for his timely assistance. 

“You wear a uniform against which my own 
son is fighting,” he continued, “but while I 
should probably do the same were I his age, in 
duty to my country, I do not feel that a narrow 
hatred of individuals ever aided the adherents 


6o THE GERMAN BRACELET 


of any cause. Let the young men do active 
battle for their principles ; it should be the part 
of those of my generation to study the means 
whereby peace should be assured to the country 
we all love. You see I can appreciate a kind- 
ness even from a Yankee!” He laughed good- 
naturedly. 

“You have saved my daughter the sorrow of 
losing a gift which she greatly prizes, and that 
is sufficient to make me forget the former cir- 
cumstance, and to say, sir, I shall be most 
pleased to see you at my house whenever the for- 
tunes of war will permit you to visit us. I trust 
we shall have the pleasure of knowing you much 
better; and believe me, if at any time I or mine 
can serve you personally in any way, we shall be 
only too glad to do so.” 

Mr. Broadnax shook hands with the Union- 
ist, and left the room observing something 
about getting those foolish negroes reduced to 
order. 

Mrs. Broadnax begged the stranger to re- 
main to dinner. He explained that he must re- 
turn to his command, but expressed the hope 
that it might be his good fortune to accept their 
kind hospitality at some future time. She also 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 6i 


thanked him, and then followed her husband, 
her gentle countenance the very mirror of her 
sensitive, kindly nature. 

All the time Irene had lingered, trying in vain 
to find such expressions of grateful appreciation 
as met with her own approval, but though she 
fairly submerged herself in her own scorn, it 
aided matters not the slightest. 

“I have been trying to find words to tell 
you how I — ’’ she commenced in desperation, 
but the young officer raised his hands as if to 
ward off another avalanche of thanks, while a 
humorous smile shone in his gray eyes and 
curved his well-formed lips to an expression of 
amusement that brought Irene back to her usual 
mood of gayety. 

“Oh, very well, I won’t then,” she retorted, 
her own eyes bright with laughter. “But it was 
mighty good of you,” she could not refrain from 
adding. 

“What a people you are down here!” the 
stranger said; “such a trifling service, and I am 
almost drowned in awful waves of gratitude. It 
must be very easy for a man to get a reputation 
for virtue in these parts,” he sighed reflectively. 
“It is not thus where I live.” 


62 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“Do you mean you all don’t ever thank a 
person, or that no one is virtuous?” Irene in- 
quired. 

“Oh, I just mean that I have suddenly real- 
ized that my own particular virtues have never 
been thoroughly appreciated by the unenlight- 
ened heathen among whom I live, and I am 
thinking of coming down here to acquire the 
reputation which I feel awaits me. It would 
be such a delightful contrast to the one I left 
at home.” 

“I reckon you have never got religion; that’s 
most likely the real trouble,” Irene suggested in 
a tone of mild speculation. “If you lived here 
you could go to the church right near where the 
darkies get theirs, just to show you how it’s 
done. Haven’t you ever been? I went twice. 
There were a lot of us, and I do believe the old 
preacher made his sermon up just for our bene- 
fit. It was lots of fun.” She laughed at the re- 
membrance. 

“But are you really such a wicked person?” 
she asked in mock seriousness. “Because if you 
are, notwithstanding your deed of valor, I really 
should not be standing here talking to you.” 

“Not really innately wicked, you know; just 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 63 

needing a little gentle exhortation, a little wom- 
anly encouragement — that sort of thing. Camp 
life is so demoralizing,’’ he added as an after- 
thought. 

“I understand just exactly,” Irene replied. 
“I have an aunt that would exhort you right 
straight into heaven — she’s very much interested 
in persons suffering from your troubles. Sup- 
pose I take you to her now, just for a little 
while; I’m sure she’d reform you beautifully.” 

“Er, well, she might do it so thoroughly I’d 
never be recognized; now if you were to point 
out my faults, et cetera, it would give you such 
an early start in the reforming business that by 
the time you reached your respected aunt’s age 
you could not only exhort a fellow straight into 
heaven, but might even get him a round-trip 
ticket, taking in all the sights, you know; and, 
by Jove ! that would be something ahead of any 
religion yet!” 

“I see clearly that your case is in an entirely 
too advanced stage for the practice of an inex- 
perienced amateur; I shall turn you over to my 
aunt’s care; but there’s the bell for dinner. 
Hadn’t you better strengthen the body before 
you discipline the spirit?” 


64 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Her eyes as well as her voice invited him to 
stay, but he was compelled to depart at once; 
as it was, his delay would perhaps call for an 
explanation. 

Irene watched him mount the horse which his 
orderly held in waiting for him, and even felt 
a slight regret, as, hat in hand, he waved a gay 
adieu, while his big sorrel carried him down the 
hill, across the bridge, and on toward that mys- 
terious line of meeting of the earth with the 
heavens. 

The girl’s thoughts followed the retreating 
horseman as she vaguely speculated whether she 
should ever see him again in that future toward 
which he had ridden. 

How she had chatted with him ! For all the 
world as if they were old friends and he not a 
Yankee, and — goodness sakes! she did not even 
know his name! 

Criticising herself severely for such lack of 
dignity, she entered the house hastily, and joined 
the remainder of her family, dining, according 
to custom, at the hour of noon. 


CHAPTER V 


There had been no more raids since the one 
in September in which the “Mad German,” as 
Irene had dubbed him, had played so conspicu- 
ous a part. At first the family had watched in 
anxiety for a repetition of this war measure ; but 
after several weeks had elapsed, and their 
slumbers at night gradually became more peace- 
ful and unbroken, they came to the conclusion, 
as time passed, that they were not to be further 
molested. 

In this feeling of comparative security Irene 
had ventured on a walk which took her beyond 
the visual range of the house, accompanied only 
by her Newfoundland dog, named after the gal- 
lant Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, familiarly shortened 
to “Jeb.” 

Exulting in the new liberty, Irene raced with 
the dog in joyous exhilaration of spirits. She 
made a very charming picture, her arms full of 
the brilliant-hued leaves with which November 
had carpeted the ground against the approach of 
the coldly majestic winter. 

(65) 


5 


66 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


She rushed toward Jeb, burying him beneath 
the gorgeous pall, and mingling her ringing 
laugh with his shrill bark as he rose from his 
tomb, a resurrected if not a sainted brute. The 
scarlet cap upon her disordered curls was all in 
keeping with the brightly flushed cheeks and 
laughing red lips as she paused now and then 
to enjoy the lingering splendor of the sinking 
sun — a golden, glowing sun that with his last 
strength gazed yearningly toward the earth ere 
the heavy purple clouds should curtain it from 
his sight forever. 

They had entered a space shadowed by old 
trees, too sparsely scattered to be called a wood, 
and traversed by the path which they had fol- 
lowed. 

Halting by a fallen tree, Irene seated herself 
to rest a moment, while Jeb threw himself at 
full length under a bush a few paces distant. 

Her thoughts turned to the young Northerner, 
whom she had not again seen ; then the scowling 
countenance of the “Mad German” rose before 
her mind’s eye, and she asked herself for the 
hundredth time what strange freak of imagina- 
tion could have made him claim the bracelet her 
brother had given her just before he had gone 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 67 

to join the Army of Northern Virginia. Fancy 
pictured what he would have done to the mad- 
man had he been on the scene! — her brave 
brother, who had left Heidelberg and come 
home, running the blockade, in order to enlist 
in the army of the “Grays.” How she loved 
him; and how their parents fairly worshiped 
him ; and that brute had tried to steal from her 
his beautiful gift that he had bought in Europe 
for her, asking only that she would gratify a 
foolish whim of his in promising to wear it 
always I If he were only sitting here beside her 
now, chatting in that jolly way that always won 
indulgence for him for things which in others 
one might be inclined to criticise. 

Immersed in her thoughts, Irene had not 
heard the approaching footsteps of a man who 
now paused a few feet from her, saying with 
a ring of poorly disguised triumph in his voice : 

“So, Fraulein, it was you before that had the 
advantage, but to-day it is my turn to surprise. 
You seemed startled!” he mimicked in sarcasm. 

It was no more than the truth. When the 
sounds of his guttural accents had struck upon 
Irene’s ear she had experienced a sensation as of 
tiny icicles frolicking up and down her spine; 


68 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


but her natural grit prompted her to simulate a 
composure she realized to be the grossest hy- 
pocrisy. 

“I had the advantage of being on my own 
premises, I presume you mean, you being an un- 
warranted intruder; well, I have that same ad- 
vantage now, and I would warn you that you 
trespass on these grounds under a very heavy 
penalty!” 

Irene regarded the man before her much as 
she would have done a poacher caught with the 
game yet warm in his bag. 

She had risen when she first recognized the 
man, who was now clothed in rough tweed, in 
place of the uniform he had previously worn. 

As she moved slowly away from him trusting 
she would be permitted to make a dignified re- 
treat, the German stepped up to her. 

“Ach, to have the opportunity and not to take 
advantage of it, is to be a fool, my American 
lady,” he said in a low, thick voice. 

“Occasionaly that’s the more graceful part to 
play,” Irene retorted, in quick anger, and added, 
“Your choice lying between that and the part of 
a knave. I’d be inclined to favor the former.” 

She again attempted to move away, but the 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 69 

German came still closer, his smile turned to an 
ugly snarl. 

“I want that bracelet which you have upon 
your arm there, that your brother stole ; give it 
to me, as I say, and you may go unmolested; 
otherwise, I will take it by force.” 

“How dare you slander a brave man so!” 
Irene cried her eyes flashing as lightning in the 
storm of her anger. “You, a coward, a de- 
serter!” pointing to his civilian’s dress. “Come 
one step nearer to me and I will set the dog 
on you!” 

As Irene’s voice had risen in excitement, Jeb, 
until then unnoticed by the man, had come to 
the side of his mistress, and was uttering a series 
of growling protests at the German’s behavior. 

As Irene uttered her threat she laid her hand 
upon the dog’s collar, a signal he well knew; 
but the man, believing her words to be merely 
the last resource in a difficult situation, strode 
up to her and roughly grasped her arm. As he 
did so, with a single word of permission she let 
go Jeb’s collar. 

With a leap the dog was upon the German, 
springing straight at the hand that clutched his 
mistress’s arm. With a deep curse the man 


70 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

threw him off, but not before the flesh had been 
badly tom, and as Jeb returned with renewed 
vigor to the fray, the German cried out: 

“Himmel! call off that beast!” 

“Have you had enough, sir, or will you still 
endeavor to interfere with my movements?” 

Irene’s voice sounded coldly distant, and as 
she called off the dog the man decided he was 
again worsted. Not vouchsafing a reply, he 
turned on his heel stalking off in the direction 
from which he had come, wrapping his hand- 
kerchief around the mutilated member as he 
went, calling back from a safe distance : 

“You will not always be so fortunate; there 
are still more to-morrows, and your brother shall 
pay well for this. Do not fancy you are to keep 
that bracelet, Fraulein 1” 

Irene with Jeb close beside her, hastened 
home, determined to say nothing of the affair 
if it could be avoided, as it would cause her pa- 
rents renewed anxiety. 

The heavy shadows of twilight announced the 
day’s death; but scarcely had the scepter fallen 
from the lifeless clasp of the dying sovereign 
than the evening star, herald of the approaching 
darkness, amid the hushed expectancy of all na- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 71 

ture, proclaimed the reign of the new monarch, 
Night. 

The trees of the forest bent their stately heads 
as loyal subjects, and the winds raised their 
voices in solemn rejoicing, while across the sky 
advanced a brilliant company of courtiers and 
satellites, and lastly, with her own particular at- 
tendants appeared the beautiful Moon, Night’s 
gracious consort, whose gentle, kindly influence 
is ever exerted to lessen her lord’s severity. 

As the shadows grew heavier, Irene reached 
the house, and running lightly up the steps sud- 
denly remembered that guests were expected to 
dinner; there was to be dancing afterward and 
some of the younger people would spend the 
night. 

She went directly to her room therefore, and 
as the maid dressed her tried to banish all traces 
of the nervous excitement that her disagreeable 
encounter had caused. 

Certainly as she descended the wide staircase 
she showed no signs of any feeling other than 
youthful gayety. 

Her dainty frock of softest gray mull was 
made over pale pink, and its square-cut neck 
and short, puffed sleeves were edged with pale 


72 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

pink quilling, while a band of the same delicate 
hue encircled her slender waist. A la France 
rose, from the conservatory, nestled among the 
brown curls, completing a toilette the most ar- 
tistic in its perfect simplicity. 

The spacious hall, fashioned by its original 
owner after the memory of his English home, 
was ringing with the laughter evoked by some 
amusing anecdote, and Irene was not seen till 
she had almost reached the gay group about the 
great open fireplace, where huge hickory logs 
scorned, with defiant cracklings, the rising wind 
of the November evening. 

As her friends saw her, amid enthusiastic 
greetings, she was surrounded by a laughing, 
chattering throng. 

Before they had time to resume their places, 
the old colored butler announced that dinner 
was served. 

As the older people joined them from the 
library near by, they trooped in to the dining- 
room, where about the table once so profusely 
covered with silver, but now sadly lacking in 
such .evidences of luxury, they ate, amid the 
happiest mingling of jests, war anecdotes and 
reminiscences of other scenes from the older 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


73 


people, the rich and savory viands placed before 
them by the ebony-hued servants, who, when 
well trained, are not to be surpassed as waiters, 
whatever higher positions in life may prove be- 
yond their ability. 

Junius Skelton, of whom Mammy Rose had 
accused Irene of “stedy’n ’bout,” was seated on 
the latter’s right, his left arm in a sling. He 
had made it a point to embrace every opportun- 
ity during his furlough to enjoy Irene’s society. 

She used to rather like him, she now remem- 
bered, but somehow to-night during dinner, and 
through the evening afterward, though not find- 
ing any tangible cause, she yet realized that he 
sometimes bored her. 

The evening seemed very long to her, and as 
the last carriage rolled away she mounted the 
stairs with the few girl friends who were re- 
maining over night, conscious of a feeling of re- 
lief. 

Having assured herself of the comfort of her 
guests she retired to her own room, and dismiss- 
ing the sleepy-eyed maid tried to reason away 
the disagreeable remembrance of that phrase of 
the German’s ^*That your brother stole which 
recurred to her mind with irritating persistence. 


74 the german bracelet 


At last, in sheer youthful weariness, she com- 
pleted her disrobing, and, blowing out the flick- 
ering candles, composed herself to sleep, to find 
herself following in dreamland a horseman in 
a blue uniform, who waved a gay farewell as he 
sped on before her, ever in advance of her, and 
going, ah, so far away, no matter how loudly 
she called after him to come back and let her 
reform him. 


CHAPTER VI 


The winter months which now followed were 
marked by a depression, an utter despondency, 
throughout the South. It was as if the ap- 
proaching surrender had cast its chilling shadow 
before, and it was only an occasional flame of 
fervent energy that flared up from time to time 
during those months from the dying embers of 
the Confederate’s enthusiastic endurance. 

Even the wealthiest felt its financial strain, 
aside from the actual plundering of war, and 
the Broadnax family, though not impoverished 
as were many of their neighbors, to all of whom 
they gave to such extent as the recipients 
deemed compatible with pride, was no exception 
to the rule. They, like many others, assumed 
at times a fitful gayety, inviting a houseful of 
friends to make such semblance of merriment 
as under the circumstances was possible; but 
even then the absence of all young men, save 
the few on sick-leave, did but accentuate the 
condition they sought to disguise. 

( 75 ) 


76 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

It was during one of these house-parties that 
Irene and her friends decided to take advantage 
of the well-frozen ice upon the mill-pond with 
which every plantation was provided. The 
party consisted of half a dozen girls of her own 
age, and several young men, all of whom had 
been sent home on furlough for recovery from 
either a wound or sickness, and who took what- 
ever pleasure they could enjoy in their some- 
what disabled condition. 

Irene, with the faithful Junius at her side, 
led the way, the others following, while two or 
three little pickaninnies carrying skates and 
rugs brought up the rear. Amid much joking 
and laughter the pleasure-seekers were all finally 
fitted with skates, and glided off with a grace- 
fulness proportionate to the individual skill of 
each, while the little darkies viewed the sport 
and its frequent disconcerting mishaps with a 
wild glee that seemed almost impish. 

As Irene and her companion started off she 
turned to him, interrupting the story she had 
been relating to say, with a note of friendly anx- 
iety in her voice which Junius persuaded himself 
might arise from a deeper feeling: 

“But, Junius, indeed I don’t think you ought 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 77 

to be skating, when you might so easily slip and 
injure yourself; the idea of your going on like 
this, just as if you could use both arms!” 

Junius thought her gentle, chiding words the 
sweetest music to which he had ever listened, 
and he answered smiling, while his honest boy- 
ish eyes told his story quite frankly: 

“You must surely not worry about me; my 
single regret is that I can hold only one of your 
hands instead of both.” And he gazed envy- 
ingly at the other couples who passed, with 
hands crossed, and bodies swaying with an ac- 
cented rhythm in perfect harmony with the time 
of their gliding feet. 

“Goodness me, Junius!” Irene protested, 
“with such a natural genius for saying idle 
nothings, and considering the fluency you have 
acquired at your present early age, as well as the 
opportunities you are likely to have in the fu- 
ture to improve yourself, I prophesy that by 
the time you reach forty you will be standing on 
a pinnacle of lonely greatness.” 

“Well, come on; if you are not willing to 
share my greatness in the future, at least you 
needn’t make me skate alone in the present.” 

So they started off, hand in hand, across the 


78 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

smooth surface, calling out some sally to each 
couple as they passed. 

Up and down the pond they glided, eyes 
shining and cheeks flushed, Irene’s bright red 
cap making her easily distinguishable from the 
others. 

“By George! there goes Blakey down!” 
Junius called out, as he and Irene were separated 
for a moment, practicing a figure they were try- 
ing to perfect. “Lord, what a spill!” 

He skated swiftly toward the unfortunate, 
now seated upon the ice with an expression of 
mingled suffering and indignation upon his ex- 
pansive countenance, that, combined with a pro- 
nounced fleshiness of body, made him a spec- 
tacle deserving of pity, perhaps, whereas only 
its ludicrous aspect appealed to the imagination 
of the convulsed spectators, above whose laugh- 
ter could be heard the piercing shrieks of delight 
from the black imps dancing about in frantically 
appreciative joy. 

“I say, Blakey,” Junius found breath to say, 
“that was done with a grace worthy of Dickens’ 
Mr. Winkle.” And this allusion to the ice 
tragedian sent them all off into new peals of 
merriment. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 79 

Mr. Blakey rose from his sitting posture with 
a slow deliberation that suggested a lingering 
regret at the necessity for changing a position 
assumed on the impulse of the moment. Test- 
ing the supporting qualities of his skates cau- 
tiously, he straightened himself up with such 
dignity as his frost-sprinkled clothes would per- 
mit, and looking over the heads immediately be- 
fore him to where Junius and Irene stood, he 
raised one fat hand and addressed the group. 

“My friends, if I have not joined in your 
flippant hilarity, it is because I wait to have 
the best laugh, the one that comes last. Mean- 
time,” he continued, in the accents of the 
saddened if wiser man, “I shall discard these 
treacherous things, that are no more to be 
trusted than a gift-bearing Greek.” 

He sought the bank, and sinking upon one of 
the rugs covering it, confided to the pretty girl 
beside him as the little darky unfastened his 
skates : 

“The next time I find myself on runners I’ll 
take good care that there’s the seat of a sleigh 
’twixt me and them!” 

Irene and Junius had started for one last race 
before they should return to the house, and they 


8o THE GERMAN BRACELET 


were at the extremity of the pond, when Junius, 
some yards ahead, called back something to 
Irene which she could not catch, as, trying to 
lessen his speed, he turned to the right; but 
it was too late, and Irene heard a low, crackling 
sound, while even as she screamed loudly for 
help, realizing instantly the danger, she saw 
Junius sway, and as the ice broke he fell, his 
body sinking into the freezing water up to his 
waist. 

As he tried vainly to hold himself up with his 
one arm Irene threw herself down on the solid 
ice, and was able to reach with outstretched arm 
the numbed hand of the sinking man. Exert- 
ing all her strength to keep him from slipping 
beneath the ice, she tried to murmur a few 
broken words of encouragement, but she soon 
realized that Junius was too nearly unconscious 
to hear. 

As she again called loudly to the rest of the 
party she prayed fervently that her failing 
strength would hold out. Even as she felt her 
grip weakening, three men rushed up, the fore- 
most being Blakey, whom it was now hard to 
recognize as the self-commiserating actor in the 
absurd comedy of a few moments ago. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 8i 


The other two men had ropes which the ex- 
cited negroes had hastily fetched, and as Blakey, 
taking Irene’s place, succeeded in pulling Junius 
a little farther out of the water, the other men 
managed to get the ropes about his body, and 
finally the combined efforts of all three drew 
him from what had nearly proved his watery 
grave. 

As they carried him up the hill, unconscious, 
and covered with rugs, it would be hard to be- 
lieve it the same merry company which had de- 
scended its slope a few hours before; and 
Blakey recalled with a shudder his thoughtless 
speech, and felt that his last laugh had come 
near to being changed to the sound of sobs. 

As Junius slowly regained consciousness amid 
his comfortable surroundings and found Mrs. 
Broadnax bending over his bed with motherly 
tenderness, and soothing him with satisfactory 
accounts of Irene’s safety, he felt himself to be 
older by several years than the laughing youth 
who had so carelessly skated by the side of the 
winsome girl to whom he felt he owed his life. 
Well, as she had saved it she should have it, to 
do with as she wished. 

He was not injured by his ducking, and it was 
6 


82 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


only the fear that he might take cold that caused 
Mrs. Broadnax to forbid his going out for the 
next few days. 

Frequently, during these days, while the other 
youthful members were out, Irene would sit 
with Junius, sometimes reading or singing to 
him, or playing some game to amuse him, and 
occasionally just talking with him. These were 
the hours he most enjoyed, and he wondered 
vaguely if they meant anything to her, being so 
full of a satisfying sweetness for him. But now 
he had recovered sufficiently for his kindly nurse 
to grant him permission to accompany the party 
on a sleigh-ride they had planned for that even- 
ing. 

They were to go in a big straw-lined wagon 
put upon runners, their destination the so-called 
tavern down near the court-house, where they 
would have a jolly supper in honor of the recov- 
ery of Junius. During the preparation of the 
repast they planned to go over to the odd little 
church where the darkies “got their religion,” 
as they would have services about that time; 
then after supper they would ride home by 
moonlight. 

Early in the evening they started out, the im- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 83 

provised sleigh drawn by mules, all the horses 
having long since been sent to the army. The 
older people gathered about the front door to 
see the revellers depart, and as they were all 
more or less congenial it promised to be a very 
merry ride. 

They sang, and tormented the old colored 
driver till between pleasure and vexation he was 
hardly responsible. Then they shouted defiance 
at the Union, and with wild enthusiasm cheered 
for the Confederacy. Finally the tavern was 
reached, and having ordered the best in the way 
of edibles that the war-impoverished larder of 
the tavern afforded, they proceeded to the little 
colored church near by, which rejoiced in the 
name of “Mount Zion.” 

As they mildly objected to sitting at the ex- 
treme front on the mourner’s bench, they were 
shown seats near the center of the building. 
From here they watched the church gradually 
fill with all types of darky, in every variety of 
costume. 

As the service of prayers and hymns con- 
tinued, a member here and there would spring 
up, hands raised and eyes staring, as in shrill 
rejoicing she shrieked forth the glad tidings: 


84 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“Hallelujah! I hab see de Lawd, be’n 
seekin’ an’ dun fine’ Him 1 Mah soul is sabed, 
I hab see de glory of hebin I Mah sins is wash’ 
away, an’ mah soul is white, praise de Lawd!” 
falling back upon the bench rigid, and appar- 
ently oblivious of everything about her. 

Again, a man would commence a low sing- 
song chant, the words only half distinguishable, 
as he kept time with his feet in something like 
dance measure; increasing the speed of the 
movement, his voice at the same time rising 
steadily, till, in a frenzy of swinging arms and 
swaying body his voice would rise to a loud 
yell, “Glory be, I hab got religion, praise de 
Lawd! Amen! so be’t!” And he would sink 
to the floor, his condition of apparent lifelessness 
evoking not the slightest uneasiness among the 
congregation. 

As the parson finished “wording out” the last 
hymn, a woman, famous for her “ ’speriences,” 
rose, and, as a hush fell upon the congregation, 
raised her eyes toward the ceiling, her outspread 
arms beating the air like wings, and her words 
droned out in a high, nasal voice : 

“While I was a parin’ taters on the arternoon 
aprebius to dis, I was sudden took up into heben ! 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 85 

Yas, right up thro de clouds. Der was a 
mount’in — oh, Lawd, you neber did see sich a 
turrible big mount’in ; — an’ on top dat mount’in 
set Moses ; an’ as I gaze up, he dun call me, an’ 
I was afeered. But he sez, an’ he voice like 
thunder a rumblin’, ‘Martha Washin’ton Jeff’- 
son, ’tain’t no use fer you to be skairt, you’s a 
true seeker; you jes cum right up!’ An’ oh, 
Lawd!” with a deep groan, “I dun wen’ up, an’ 
de lightnin’s flash ’round me, an’ when I rech 
de top, Moses he tole me, ‘Look down,’ an’ den 
— oh, praise de Lawd! — I see hell! De flames 
was so high I couldn’t see only de Debil turnin’ 
folks ober wid he pitchfork like dey was hoe- 
cakes. An’ den Moses, he sez, ‘Look up; an 
den, — Sister Susan, tuck yo’ han’ outen mah 
pockit!” — as the negress next her endeavored 
to extract a bright ribbon, “den,” she continued, 
“I see hehen! Oh, I see all mah peoples, an’ 
I see all de good folks — an’ ole Marse, an’ ole 
Missus, an’ — ” 

A voice interrupted the “elect sister,” and in 
eager anxiety the speaker bent forward in ques- 
tioning expectancy: 

“An’ did yo’ see Aunt ’Cindy?” 

But the irate prophetess, turning squarely 


86 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


round, faced the now fearful negro, as she an- 
swered with withering scorn : 

“Go ’long, you fool niggah! I didn’t go 
down to de kitchen !” 

This was too much for the party, and con- 
trolling themselves with difficulty they passed 
quietly out, only to break into peals of laughter 
after they had passed the church’s portals. 

Returning to the tavern they found supper 
ready, and if good appetites be an aid to the 
enjoyment of a meal, certainly they had that ad- 
vantage. 

As the revellers ate the hastily prepared meal 
of which the proprietress with much importance 
and consequential bustle supervised the serving, 
they presented a picture of youthful light- 
hearted enjoyment that would have caused the 
most determined cynic to pause and reflect a bit 
doubtfully on his negative philosophy. 

The delicately browned chicken for which the 
inn was famous, and the light beaten-biscuit that 
fairly melted in the mouth, the fine Virginia 
smoked ham, and home-made pickles — all these 
dishes received just attention from the young 
people whose voices were raised in joyful hi- 
larity. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 87 

There was no chaperone to impose restraint, 
and there was an occasional lapse from table 
etiquette, as when fat Walter Blakey murmured 
plaintively to Junius at the other end of the 
table, “Junius, if you could stop talking long 
enough to realize anything beyond the satisfying 
sound of your own voice, you might perhaps 
understand that that plate of biscuit was not in- 
tended for your sole personal consumption.” 

“Law sakes! Walter,” exclaimed the girl be- 
sides Blakey, “I’m sure you’ve eaten a dozen 
already. You’d better watch out, too many of 
these light, airy things might take you soaring 
up above. Junius, we don’t want to lose the 
angel in our midst just yet — I reckon you’d bet- 
ter keep that plate down there.” 

“I’m torn between conflicting emotions — fear 
of losing you, Blakey angel, if I comply, and 
fear lest I’d never lose you if I refused. He’s 
annoyingly strong,” Junius complained to Irene; 
“must be an archangel like Michael, I reckon. 
Here, Blakey, I’ll bet you the plate of biscuit 
against your banjo — the best one, mind — that 
you can’t roll me this back!” 

Blakey caught the biscuit, and with great care 


88 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


and precision started it rolling on its return trip. 
Alas ! it stopped midway. 

“Lost, by George!” he ejaculated sadly, and 
those at Junius’s end cheered enthusiastically. 

Later on the landlady appeared, bearing a 
great glass pitcher of home-brewed persimmon 
beer as a very special honor. With glasses of 
this pale gold beverage, that sparkled and 
frothed to a feathery whiteness as it was poured 
into the thick tumblers, the party drank to Ju- 
nius the saved — to Irene first, and then to the 
rest, as the saviors. 

Then one of the boys arose, and gave the 
toast : 

“To Virginia, the dear old Mother State: 
May her children never forget that her welfare 
lies in their keeping!” 

Every glass was raised with fervent patriot- 
ism. 

Other toasts followed, and then Junius, with 
mock gravity and upturned eyes, addressed the 
company : 

“It is but fitting, fellow revellers, that we 
should do honor to the greatest one among us” ; 
then, after an impressive pause, he raised high 
his glass saying: “To the noble Blakey, ice 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 89 

hero, and supper martyr : May the angels send 
no biscuit messenger to call him hence for many 
a long day I” 

Blakey acknowledged the toast with a becom- 
ingly cherubic expression of countenance. 

Toward nine o’clock they started home, and 
Junius took good care that he should secure a 
seat by Irene. 

It so happened that the sides of the sleigh 
were filled when they got in, so they sat at the 
back, at some little distance from the rest. 

The musical jingling of the sleigh-bells fell 
upon the clear frosty air, and the moon made 
of the glistening snow a white canvas on which 
were sketched strange, exaggerated forms, 
shadows of the trees and various objects along 
the road. 

As they thus sped onward noiselessly, save 
for the sound of the bells and the merry voices, 
now singing the sweet Southern serenade, “Lo- 
rena,” Junius felt that the absorption of the 
others made the moment a favorable one in 
which to tell Irene of his love. Concealed by 
the protecting fur robes, he took her hand in 
his, claiming her serious attention. Irene did 
not break the silence to which she had seemed 


90 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


inclined, merely answering his act by a turn of 
the head. 

“Irene,” he commenced, hardly knowing how 
to express himself now that he had started, “of 
course I know that I’m not half decent enough 
a chap ever to have deserved to win the love of 
a girl like you; but, anyway, the best of what- 
ever I am belongs to you. Will you tell me if 
you care the least bit for me? I — ” 

But Irene put her other hand up, and he 
ceased as she said: 

“Don’t, Junius, let us be the good comrades 
we have always been. I can never be anything 
more to you.” Her voice was very gentle, but 
quite firm. 

“Oh, Irene dear, you don’t mean quite that, 
do you ?” His voice sounded strange to Junius. 
“Then why did you save my life?” he ques- 
tioned. 

The suffering in his tones hurt Irene, and she 
pressed his hand gently as she replied: 

“Because I am fond of you, and I want you 
for a friend as long as I live.” 

Junius realized that it was final, and during 
the rest of the drive he felt the joy of the others 
to be but an irritation to his misery. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 91 

As Irene fell asleep that night she wondered 
if her life would never have more in it — so she 
expressed it, — meaning really that she longed 
for a change of scene and events. 

She felt no premonition of the change of both 
that was soon to occur. 


CHAPTER VII 


The month of the surrender had passed, and 
the pink and white blossoms of the fruit trees 
covered the ground beneath the feet of the heart- 
weary returning soldiers. 

Stanley Broadnax was one of these, and as 
he neared his home he could but contrast his 
present begrimed appearance with the perfectly 
groomed being of the Heidelberg days. He was 
welcomed by his people with the worshiping love 
accorded the hero of a lost cause. 

When we left him on board the home-bound 
steamer his mind had been occupied in consid- 
ering what course he should pursue, having now 
dealt his adversary a blow in the dark, yet being 
himself in a rather precarious situation. 

While not actually worrying about his de- 
serted financee, he felt that an ocean was not too 
wide a dividing line to put between himself and 
Madamoiselle Eunice should she by chance feel 
the situation more keenly than he deemed likely. 

To run the blockade was no light nor easy 
matter, but he succeeded in getting through, and 
(92) 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


93 


by the aid of a ride now and then in a passing 
farm wagon made his way cross country, finally 
reaching home footsore and much the worse for 
such unusual wear. 

His family’s petting and affectionate attend- 
ance Stanley calmly accepted as his rightful por- 
tion, vouchsafing in return some amusing and 
interesting stories of Heidelberg and his life 
there. 

One day he told them that his former friend, 
Otto Cragfels, had committed a great wrong 
against him, but he would go into no particulars, 
and requested that, as it was a very painful sub- 
ject to him, they would kindly never refer to it. 

He said he could no longer stay in Europe 
leading a life of ease and security when all the 
boys at home were fighting for the Confederate 
flag. Old Mr. Broadnax nodded approvingly, 
his mother beamed with pride and love, while 
Irene slipped her little hand in his with affec- 
tionate admiration. 

When his parents left the room Stanley pro- 
duced the bracelet, and as Irene exclaimed at its 
beauty he presented it to her, merely exacting a 
promise that she would never take it off her arm. 

Stanley felt this to be an exceedingly clever 


94 the german bracelet 

stroke, for by the one act he placed the valuable 
in safe keeping should he want it in the future, 
and at the same time he shifted all responsibility 
and attendant complications that might result 
from its possession; and lastly, it was gratifying 
to see himself portraying so well the role of the 
thoughtful, generous brother. 

His accouterments collected, and haversack 
filled, he started off to join the army then 
camped near Richmond. 

An ardent seeker after the new, the untried, 
Stanley had consoled himself when forced to de- 
cide between enlisting in the army and being 
viewed askance as a coward, with the reflection 
that it would be at least a new experience. 

It was a very ironical consolation, he admit- 
ted to himself, as, after a long march, the regi- 
ment would strike camp while the winter night 
closed in about them. 

The fire for which they were obliged to fetch 
wood served to remind the soldiers of the 
meagerness of their present comfort, compared 
with their home life, rather than to warm them 
to forgetfulness of their miserable condition. 

A game of poker where the stakes were their 
clothes, the shoes on their feet, the saddles on 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 95 

the horses tethered near, and even at times their 
scanty rations — such a game would, while it 
lasted, break the tiresome monotony of the long 
days and nights, when the fastidious found fre- 
quent cause for dissatisfaction with the pro- 
prietress of Nature’s hostelry as he turned on his 
couch with a protesting groan, while a sharp, 
triangular stone, disregarding the intervening 
blanket, would probe the victim in the small of 
the back with a relentless cruelty only to be com- 
pared to a friend in the “it’s-for-your-good” 
mood. 

Stanley was not a physical coward, but his 
selfishness was simply colossal; and while he 
was not willing to be classed as a coward by re- 
maining at home when all able-bodied young 
men were at the front, he yet, in his most secret 
thoughts, greatly doubted the existence of any 
principles that were worth defending to such a 
degree of infernal discomfort. 

His eyes were not dimmed with tears, as were 
those of many a nobler man, when the white- 
haired general surrendered to the Union com- 
mander his sword, and with it the hopes of the 
Confederacy. No ! he was just d — d glad they 
could get back home to a decent meal, a bed 


96 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


above the earth, and the fine linen his pampered 
body craved. 

Now in the spring they were returning, and 
after his physical fatigue had worn off during 
the days of resting he wondered what the next 
step should be. 

Irene had told him of her two encounters with 
the mad German, as also of the latter’s strange 
accusation against him, and Stanley, ashamed at 
the fact of Cragfels’s compartive proximity, 
whom he had readily recognized from his sis- 
ter’s description, although he pretended to be ut- 
terly at a loss to account for the foreigner’s 
queer behavior, and unable to even remember 
any person bearing a resemblance to him, came 
to the conclusion it was like to be a more danger- 
ous game than he had at first anticipated. 

He fancied it would be advisable for him to 
leave these parts unless he were to defy his 
enemy openly, and this he did not purpose to do. 
His was not the frank, candid nature that is 
willing to test its prowess against that of an ad- 
versary before an observant public; rather would 
he tantalize Cragfels by keeping the bracelet 
within sight, so to speak; to let Irene, uncon- 
scious of its history, continue to wear it, frus- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


97 

trating, with her honest indignation, the Ger- 
man’s determined efforts. 

A few days later Mr. Broadnax came out on 
the veranda where the family had gathered, 
screened by protecting vines from the already 
strong rays of the early June sun. 

Mrs. Broadnax and her maiden sister. Miss 
Meade, who had made her home with the 
Broadnax family for the past fifteen years, were 
engaged upon some charity sewing, while Irene 
and Stanley were endeavoring to train a youth- 
ful sky-terrier to beg with becoming dignity for 
a tempting bone held tantalizingly out of reach. 

As Mr. Broadnax appeared, his tall, well- 
built figure indicating unusual vigor and 
strength for a man of his years, his right hand 
was holding an open letter, while his black 
stock a bit awry, and his ruffled gray locks, told 
his observant wife that he had news of an ex- 
citing nature. 

As she looked up inquiringly he explained: 

“I have just received a letter from my old 
friend, Tom Ogilby, in Washington, you know, 
my dear,” turning to his wife, “and he offers 
me a very good position there, indirectly con- 
nected with the Government,” he continued, “a 


7 


98 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


sort of outside circle, formed of members having 
knowledge of their respective sections, for the 
purpose of presenting before Congress the real 
condition of affairs in the South. It has a good 
salary, too,” he concluded thoughtfully. 

Mrs. Broadnax and the aunt had put down 
their sewing, and the dog was gnawing content- 
edly the bone dropped by Irene as she listened 
to her father’s news. 

“Well, Lucy,” said Mr. Broadnax to his 
wife, “what do you think? You know we had 
almost decided to go away from here, anyhow, 
if only for a time, and really, Tom’s offer seems 
to come very opportunely. This place will 
never be quite the same again,” he murmured 
sadly, his eyes clouding as he thought of the 
changed aspect of the surrounding country. “It 
is dead now,” he continued, “and its resurrection 
to a future that I pray may exceed in brightness 
its past will be a matter of many years. We do 
no good here ; and though it is a wrench to leave 
the old home,”^ — he stopped, it was indeed, as 
he said, a wrench — “yet it would be, on the 
other hand, unhappily depressing to remain. 
But it rests with you, my dear.” 

His lips, smiling at his wife, tried vainly to 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 99 

contradict the sadness of the straight, heavy 
brows. 

Mrs. Broadnax rose to the occasion; she 
would have been content to remain in the peace- 
ful old home, but she felt it was to the advant- 
age of her husband and children to live in some 
city where the opportunities of life were greater, 
so she smiled bravely, answering : 

“It hardly seems as if we should refuse such 
an advantageous offer, and I think you had bet- 
ter thank Mr. Ogilby and accept.” 

“Three cheers for mother!” Irene cried, and 
as Stanley’s voice joined in with her ringing hur- 
rahs, the terrier added his mite of approval, his 
good intention making up for the lack of vol- 
ume in his shrill yelps. 

“You would be glad to go, Irene?” her father 
questioned, his deep-set gray eyes beaming ten- 
derly on the excited girl, who had now seized the 
barking terrier’s front paws and was dancing a 
quick waltz with him. 

She stopped suddenly, releasing her canine 
partner as a slim, pretty mulatto maid, advanc- 
ing, placed a tray of lemon sherbet on the 
wicker table beside Mrs. Broadnax. 

Turning to reply to her father, Irene saw the 


100 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


portly figure of Major Beverly strolling leis- 
urely across the lawn, his right hand manipulat- 
ing a wide-brimmed straw hat as a fan, his 
scantily fringed shiny pate and puffy cheeks 
flushed to a deep pink from excess of heat and 
flesh. The would-be springiness of his gait and 
the elaborately frilled shirt-front did what they 
could to counteract the age-confessing exclama- 
tion of pain as his gouty foot encountered a roll- 
ing stone proverbially bare of softening moss. 

He glanced toward the veranda, and perceiv- 
ing Irene waving gayly to him, waved back his 
large hat, and following his innate love of per- 
sonal adornment, plucked from its bush a half 
blown Marechal Niel rose, arranging it in his 
button-hole with much care and precision. 

Reaching the shady coolness of the veranda, 
he greeted the assembled family in his usual 
good-natured, breath-stranded way. 

“Well, well, how are you-all?” he puffed. 
“It’s enough to provoke the wrath of Heaven 
the way you sit here, cool and collected, appro- 
priating the only oasis there seems to be in this 
scorching Sahara of heat!” 

He dabbed at his round forehead with a silk 
handkerchief, seating himself with a sigh of sat- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET loi 


isfaction in the low chair which Irene had placed 
for him. 

“Uncle Beverly, Lnl simply wild to tell you 
the news,” Irene cried; “but here, you’d better 
let me give you a sherbet to help you sustain the 
shock.” 

“Thank you, child.” 

The old gentleman brightened visibly as he 
accepted the delicate dish of frapped refresh- 
ment. 

“Dear me, but you certainly make an old man 
comfortable.” 

He held the hand which had given him the 
glass, petting it affectionately — he was very fond 
of this little girl. 

“Well, now that I’m prepared to sustain the 
shock,” he said, smiling, “what’s the news?” 

“We’re all going to live in Washington!” 

Irene stood back as far as the Major’s detain- 
ing hand would allow, to enjoy the effect of her 
startling communication. 

“Wh— at? Washington^ 

The effect was very gratifying; Major Bev- 
erly was evidently floored. 

“Yes, sir, Washington,” Irene repeated. 
“Father has had a kind of outside government 


102 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


position offered him — and,” conclusively, “we’re 
going.” 

Mr. Broadnax, after greeting his neighbor, 
had returned to the library to answer his mail, 
and as Mrs. Broadnax explained the situation 
more explicitly to the Major, Irene poised her- 
self lightly on the arm of his chair, having pro- 
vided herself with a glass of sherbet, of which 
she scarcely realized the flavor, so busy was she 
in making vague, delightful plans for the future 
now opening before her. 

“Dear, dear; well, you don’t say so!” Uncle 
Beverly was murmuring. 

He was in fact merely their nearest neighbor, 
and no relation at all of the Broadnax family, 
but they had always loved him and made much 
of him, trying to make up some of the loss his 
bachelor life was conscious of, as well as the 
very evident and unwelcome addition of a 
maiden step-sister, who ruled his domestic life 
with a rod of iron. 

“Goodness me!” 

He turned to Irene, his little white tufts of 
eyebrows all puckered up in anxious thought. 

“What’s the country coming to? First the 
war takes all our young men, and as soon as 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 103 

they return the belle of the county goes up to 
Washington, and of course that means a second 
dearth of young men in these parts. YouVe no 
right to do it, my dear; those Yankee boys will 
never consent to having a few scraps of a heart 
returned to them in place of the whole ones 
they’ll present to you.” 

He laughed, shaking his pink forefinger re- 
provingly at her; then glancing down at the 
hand he still held prisoner, he examined the 
beautiful bracelet on her soft white wrist. 

“Stanley, my boy, you have certainly wonder- 
fully perfect taste. By George! every time I 
see this thing, it seems more beautiful to me. 
Where in the world did you ever strike such a 
gem?” 

Stanley was lounging in a hammock, and as 
the others talked, he was trying to form a few 
plans to his own advantage, his spoon making 
an abstractedly systematic attack on his sherbet. 

His thought had just completed the circle 
which seemed always to end in the pale gold 
band his sister wore, and the Major’s words 
gave him an unpleasant sensation, as of being 
caught talking aloud to himself; but he an- 


104 the german bracelet 


swered carelessly, watching the Major neverthe- 
less : 

“Oh, I picked it up in a curio shop; just 
chanced on it. Precious lucky, I think, too. It’s 
a mighty good pearl there on the clasp ; suppose 
some one of those old ramshackle families had 
to part with a few trifles.” 

He consumed a spoonful of sherbet with an 
air of idle thoughtfulness. 

Confound the old busy-body, why couldn’t he 
mind his own affairs ! 

With a view to avoiding further inquiries 
which the inquisitive Major might feel disposed 
to make, Stanley vacated the hammock, and 
placing his empty glass upon the table sauntered 
within doors to an odd-shaped room known as 
his den. 

Throwing himself down upon the light bam- 
boo couch he gazed abstractedly through the 
half-closed shutters of the bay-window, which 
disclosed a charming view of the sun-burnished 
waters of the James winding along between fo- 
liage-shaded banks, almost divided into two 
streams at times by the shrub-grown islands and 
jutting rocks that give it a picturesqueness pe- 
culiar to itself. Ever murmuring its story of 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 105 

the sorrow of parting, the joy of reunion, it 
wends its way toward the ocean, gliding softly, 
with low whisperings, under the laurel cliffs of 
beautiful Hollywood, heedful lest the peaceful 
sleep of Virginia’s noble ones be disturbed. 

But it was the course of his own life in which 
Stanley was interested ; nothing outside his own 
personal affairs could ever win from him such 
concentrated thought as was now evidenced by 
the frown of perplexity between his too per- 
fectly arched brows, as well as in the biting of 
his full nether lip. 

“Oh, hang it all !” 

He ran the long flexible fingers of his right 
hand through the dark wavy locks which framed 
his forehead so closely that there was left insuf- 
ficient space for Dame Nature’s stamp of intel- 
lect. To come to a decision was always a great 
exertion for him, his natural inclination being 
always to follow the line of least resistance, and 
it was somewhat according to this philosophy 
that he now reasoned. 

He must leave this immediate vicinity; so 
much he had decided upon. Cragfels was very 
keen on the search for his bracelet, which simply 
proved at what high value it was esteemed by 


io6 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


him; and that was all the greater reason that 
he, Stanley, should balk his efforts toward its 
recovery. On the other hand, he felt no desire 
to come in contact with his enemy, and therefore 
he would use his sister as his unconscious accom- 
plice, for the present at least. She was truth 
itself, and would never break her promise. 
Cragfels was probably around these parts, if he 
had not gone home, which seemed unlikely, and 
so Irene might never see him again; and if he 
did trace her to Washington, why, all the better, 
it would be like tantalizing a cat by holding a 
live mouse just out of reach. He chuckled en- 
joyably ; if he could only see the play ! But any- 
how, he’d back Irene and her loyalty every time 
against Cragfels’ s efforts. 

Then his thoughts turned to this strange 
bracelet itself. What was its whole history, and 
what made it of such paramount importance to 
Otto Cragfels? He had said he knew only half 
of its story himself, yet he had deemed that suf- 
ficient motive for him to cross an ocean, to enlist 
in the Union Army as a private, and to manage 
to get himself detailed in the detachment that 
was to raid the section of the James country, 
where he knew the Broadnax home was situated. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 107 

Had he known that he, Stanley, was in the army 
and surmised such a valuable would scarcely be 
taken with him, and therefore determined to 
search his home for the probably hidden treas- 
ure? Well, whatever way it had happened, it 
was plain to be seen Cragfels had determined to 
recover his property, and he, Stanley, was 
equally determined to outwit him. 

Tired with his unusual mental exertion, his 
mind ambled lazily toward the conclusion that, 
as his family was going to Washington, he 
might as well go in that direction as in any 
other. 

The thought of his deserted financee aroused 
in him no compunction of conscience; she was 
probably fleecing some other rich fellow by this 
time. He wondered idly how she had managed 
Cragfels when he discovered her disposal of his 
priceless treasure, never doubting for a moment 
her capacity to accomplish that by no means easy 
feat. 

The heavy lids closed over the dark eyes that 
many a credulous girl had described to her most 
particular intimates as “those deep, soulful, 
dreamy eyes ; the eyes of a poet, you know, dear, 
or anyway something romantic and uncommon”; 


io8 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


and as the slanting rays of sunset drifted through 
the shutters, Stanley’s patrician nose was breath- 
ing out upon the evening air a melody, soulful 
perhaps, but neither romantic nor uncommon, 
that would have greatly shocked his illusioned 
feminine worshipers. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Amid the confusion and bustle attendant upon 
the moving of the household gods, Irene found 
time during the summer weeks following to bid 
farewell to the various nooks and spots of nat- 
ural loveliness which, through innate beauty or 
sweet association, had woven a chain of affection 
about her heart, the well-forged links of which 
held firmly as her tears hallowed each memory, 
even as the will strove to comfort by picturing 
imaginary pleasures on the bare canvas of the 
future. 

By September they were comfortably estab- 
lished in Washington, and Irene had already 
made some new friends, as well as having re- 
newed the acquaintance of several old school 
chums. One of these was a certain Margaret 
Hardway, whose father had died, leaving his 
wife and her, his only child. 

Her brilliant gold hair and almost dazzling 
fair complexion, combined with a graceful ani- 
mation, seemed but to emphasize her mother’s 
sandiness of hair, lack of definite coloring, and 
oddly mechanical manner of moving. 

(109) 


no THE GERMAN BRACELET 


It was now the month of October, and Irene 
and her friend were just returning from a drive 
in the latter’s high cart, which Margaret said 
was “just too delightfully English!” 

“Now, Irene,” she was insisting excitedly, an 
attractive lisp more noticeable than usual in her 
earnestness, “here we are,” as she pulled up the 
high-stepping cob before her own home, and 
throwing the reins to the groom behind, alighted, 
holding out her hand to her hesitating compan- 
ion. “Come on, you don’t have to be home yet. 
Who did you say was coming?” and then, not 
waiting for a reply, as Irene walked beside her 
into the house, “Just a cup of tea, dear, it’ll help 
you to stand that tiresome dinner of all those 
old frumps. Oh, there’s Ching-ching!” She 
stooped to gather up a silky-haired Angora kit- 
ten, which was invariably in her arms or lap 
when within doors. 

They entered the sitting-room, with its deep 
windows, through which the late afternoon sun- 
light filtered uncertainly, and, rebuffed by the 
high wainscoting of dark mahogany, wandered 
confusedly over the rich crimson of the carpet 
to the various padded easy-chairs and other 
pieces of luxurious furniture that made of this 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


III 


room a welcome refuge against the cares and 
annoyances of the life outside its walls. 

There were two people in the room beside 
Mrs. Hardway as they entered, a woman very 
fetchingly gowned, whom Mrs. Hardway in- 
troduced as Mrs. Pannell, and a tall, broad- 
shouldered man whom she presented as Colonel 
Yelverton. 

In the shadow of Margaret’s protecting form, 
and owing to the dusky appearance of the room 
after the out-door sunlight, neither Irene nor 
the man recognized each other, till, Margaret 
having seated her friend near Mrs. Hardway, 
the former had accepted a cup of tea and was 
about to answer some inquiry, when she was 
startled by hearing a strangely familiar voice, 
saying pleasantly, as the speaker advanced with 
a plate of tempting little cakes: 

“Er, Miss Broadbent, won’t you have some 
of these? They’re just the best!” with an in- 
viting smile, and then, as Irene looked up in his 
face: 

“Oh, I say; why — er — it’s youP^ 

His expression of amazement, pleasure, and 
a certain something that seemed to amuse him 
in the situation, made his countenance an inter- 


1 12 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


esting study, while the strain of the moment had 
been such that half the cakes had slid from the 
slanting plate into Irene’s lap. 

Her countenance reflected the man’s dis- 
mayed pleasure, but the cakes on her lap re- 
stored her to sufficient composure to enable her 
to smile graciously as she indicated the bounti- 
ful supply, saying: 

“You’re very generous, but I don’t believe 
I’m equal to them all. Won’t you have some, 
too?” 

Colonel Yelverton drew up one of the queer- 
shaped but comfortable chairs that made the 
room so attractive, and seating himself, ex- 
plained, in answer to Mrs. Hardway’s question- 
ing glance, that he had understood her to say 
Broadbent, and had not recognized Miss Broad- 
nax, whom he had met once before. 

Irene felt no inclination to explain further her- 
self, and the two were soon very much engaged 
with each other. 

Mrs. Hardway joined in the discussion which 
was absorbing Margaret and the fascinating 
widow as to whether, under the circumstances, 
Mrs. So-and-So had any right to expect people 
to condone such perfectly reckless social es- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 113 

capades as that lady would persist in indulging 
in, to the scandalization of the neighbors. 

“You are really living up here?” Colonel 
Yelverton was repeating questioningly. 

“Well, we are sure enough here,” Irene an- 
swered, “and I’m making a noble effort to get 
in as much living as possible,” she added in 
laughing earnestness. 

“What, according to your idea or inclination, 
do you consider living. Miss Broadnax?” 

As he asked the question Colonel Yelverton 
registered a mental observation to the effect 
that the girl from Dixie was even more attrac- 
tive as he now saw her, in a smart, dark gray 
gown, than in the picture his memory had pre- 
served of a slender, graceful maid, in a tan 
frock, her face pale with anger, as her violet 
eyes flashed contempt at the mad German, while 
upon her tossed curls rested the most coquet- 
tishly defiant of soft red caps. 

His eyes unconsciously strayed to the dark 
gray hat which now rested upon the well-poised 
head, a single plume of pale gray shading to 
white drooping down over the fine brown hair, 
almost to her shoulder. 

“As actions are supposed to be the noisiest 
8 


1 14 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


witnesses,” Irene was answering, “I reckon I 
should say that having lots of people to love 
one, and plenty of pleasure to enjoy with them, 
comes about as near as possible to my idea of 
living.” 

She observed her companion closely as she 
spoke, wondering what his idea of the same sub- 
ject would be, and deciding at the same time 
that gray eyes with black brows were by far the 
most suitable kind of orbs for a man to have; 
that is, of course, if his hair is just a trifle in- 
clined to wave, and his shoulders are broad and 
military looking. 

“That’s jolly enough for those within the 
magic circle,” he complained, “but it’s a bit nar- 
row ; does it limit your enjoyment of any pleas- 
ure to the companionship of those only whom 
you actually love? Because,” he continued, “I 
had thought rashly of suggesting myself as a 
guide to a delightful bit of country, just beyond 
the city proper, where some charming vifcws are 
seen to the best advantage on horseback; but 
what can a poor mortal on the wrong side of 
that circling line do?” 

He appeared grieved at the narrowness of 
her code. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 1 1 5 

“A good ride — through a bright, beautiful 
section of country?” Irene murmured tenta- 
tively; and then, a smile stealing about the cor- 
ners of her red lips, while her eyes were still 
judicially grave. “I would not wish to seem 
narrow-minded, nor guided by prejudice, so, 
lest I be misjudged, I reckon it would be wiser 
for me to ride with you through some of that 
country, if only to inform myself as to what a 
Yankee considers a really fine view.” 

“I’m not fussy about motives, so long as you 
will go. Now let’s see, how would to-morrow 
do? The morning’s apt to be the best for the 
view, you know ; is that all right?” 

There was no attempt to disguise his eager- 
ness, and Irene realized that it pleased her as 
she answered, “I reckon so,” with a smile of 
such utter sweetness that Yelverton felt as if 
the little Southern phrase had pierced his heart, 
wounding him as no Confederate bullet had 
succeeded in doing; and there was a strangely 
prophetic fear within him as he realized that 
he was like to be a prisoner, after all, to one 
who was even now waving the rebel colors in 
joyful defiance right before his dazed eyes. 

“But really, I must go now,” he heard Irene’s 


ii6 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


voice saying, and with the impulse to detain, 
if only for a moment this elusive creature, he 
asked suddenly: 

“Oh! by the way, I wonder what ever be- 
came of that German fellow? He got out of 
the army soon after that raid, and I’ve never 
seen him since. Do you still wear that beautiful 
bracelet that seemed to fascinate him so 
strangely?” 

“Yes, indeed; my brother asked me to wear 
it always, and I’ve never had it off since the time 
that queer man removed it so unceremoniously.” 

Her light laugh dismissed the subject as she 
rose, declaring she must certainly go. 

Crossing the room, with Yelverton following, 
she bade Mrs. Hardway and Mrs. Panned 
good-by, Margaret and the young man going 
with her to the side door which opened on to a 
terrace. The trio paused a moment chatting, 
Yelverton noting down Irene’s address, and as- 
suring her that nothing less than a cloudburst 
could be considered a plausible excuse to defer 
the ride. 

“Oh, Horace!” 

Mrs. Pannell’s voice came through the open 
glass door, a tinge of irritation marring its sil- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 117 

very tones, and reminding Irene of the question- 
ing glances, tinged to about the same degree 
with annoyance, which that sprightly lady had 
cast toward Colonel Yelverton and herself as 
their conversation continued to engross their at- 
tention to the exclusion of the others in the 
room. 

Yelverton stepped just within the door, and 
as Irene’s eyes followed him, she saw entering 
through the other door of the room a man, 
heavily built, with a broad, stolid countenance, 
his large, straight mouth shaded by an aggres- 
sive mustache which turned uncompromisingly 
upward at the corners. His nose was promi- 
nent and his well-shaped eyes were of a peculiar 
color, which one hestitated to call either brown 
or slate color, so oddly changeful did varying 
emotions render them, while the rough brows 
above seemed but in keeping with the mustache 
and bushy light brown hair that covered the 
squarely shaped head. A long, white saber- 
scar reached from the left cheek-bone down- 
ward, attracting attention to a countenance un- 
usual if not altogether pleasing. 

Seeing the man advance with the evident ease 


ii8 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


of familiarity, Irene clutched her friend’s arm, 
saying in a low, choked voice : 

“Look, Margaret, who — who is that coming 
toward your mother?” And as Margaret 
started to speak, she pulled her away from the 
door, saying: “Hush, don’t fuss, just tell me 
who that man is.” 

“Why, Irene, what’s the matter? — -you look 
as though you’d seen a ghost — it’s only my 
cousin Ot — ” 

But Irene had caught sight of the man com- 
ing toward the glass door, and not waiting to 
hear further, she whispered good-by to her 
friend, and ran lightly down the terrace steps to 
the gravel walk below, which turned a short 
angle to the left, thus cutting her off from 
sight. Walking hurriedly she reached the 
street, and fifteen minutes later entered her own 
home, where she hoped she would be fortunate 
enough to find her brother. 

She had never spoken to her parents of her 
second encounter with the German, and did not 
wish to do so now; she would just ask Stanley 
if he had met any one in Washington like this 
man. Of course it was absurd for her to feel 
such a dread of him ; he could not possibly harm 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 119 

her, surrounded here by social custom and all 
her friends; but, an)rway, she would just ask 
Stanley. 

She found that young pleasure-seeker in the 
music-room, seated at the piano, his long, white 
fingers wandering over the keys with the inti- 
mate, caressing touch of one who plays by ear. 

Pausing between the heavy portieres, Irene 
listened, forgetting all else for the moment, 
conscious only of the mysterious, exquisite mel- 
ody that was filling, with its lovely presence, 
every shadowy corner of the room, stealing over 
her mind and senses with a wild yet insistent 
shyness. As the minor strains grew ever fainter, 
more distant, the final sweet chords seeming al- 
most an echo, Irene thought with a warm rush 
of affectionate feeling how proud she was of 
this only brother ; how nature had lavished gifts 
upon him — physical attractiveness, a good na- 
tured disposition, the most generous heart, and 
then, such a wonderful ability to do all sorts 
of things through instinct, natural genius, that 
others have to learn by tedious study — witness 
his gift for music, in playing, and singing also. 

Alas ! thus does love blind us. 

Crossing the room slowly, she sat down in a 


120 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


chair to the right of Stanley, who looked up, in- 
quiring : 

“Did you hear those chords, Irene? You 
could never imagine they came from the heart 
of a well-regulated piano, whose stubby feet 
were sunk luxuriantly in a thick velvet carpet, 
could you? It’s rather the voice of some wild, 
woodland sprite, some creature of the sylvan 
glades — isn’t it so, little sister?” 

But he was not looking toward his sister; he 
smiled at the picture upon the wall opposite 
him, while still, now and then, idly touching the 
ivory keys. 

“Yes, I heard them,” Irene answered; “they 
were certainly beautiful.” 

She stopped abruptly, then continued, as she 
took out one long pin from the large gray hat: 

“Stanley, I saw that German at Margaret 
Hardway’s; he is her cousin,” she added, and 
was about to continue, but her brother wheeled 
round toward her suddenly, his left hand falling 
upon the keys with a discordant crash as he re- 
peated her words interrogatively. 

“You saw the German?” Then hastily, 
“Was he introduced to you? Did you talk with 
him?” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 12 1 

“No,” Irene replied, wondering slightly at 
her brother’s evident perturbation. “No, I was 
just going when he came, and I asked Margaret 
his name, and as she said he was her cousin the 
man started in our direction, so I just ran. Oh, 
no, I didn’t really run, you know,” laughing, 
“but I just descended those terrace steps mighty 
rapidly.” 

Her brother’s face cleared while she spoke, 
and in answer to her query as to whether he had 
seen anything of such a person in Washington, 
he replied coolly: 

“No. By thunder! it’s funny the way you 
keep meeting that fellow; but,” he added 
soothingly, “I wouldn’t let it bother me, Irene; 
down in Virginia’s one thing, but up here in 
Washington it’s — er — entirely different,” he 
concluded with vague reassurance. 

Irene rose, swinging her hat in her hand, as 
she echoed his opinion : 

“Yes; that’s what I felt; but I merely 
thought I’d mention it to you.” 

She started toward the doorway, thinking 
now of Colonel Yelverton, of whom she did not, 
however, speak. 

Stanley’s eyes followed her graceful figure as 


122 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


she moved toward the hall, remarking with his 
usual light insouciance, as Irene held the wide- 
brimmed hat so low that the plume swept the 
floor: 

“That’s a very chic looking head-piece you 
have there, sister; but I rather doubt its effi- 
ciency as a floor duster.” 

Irene laughed, turning her head to make a 
saucy little moue at him over her shoulder as 
she caught up the misused hat. 

Left to himself, Stanley discarded the mask 
of unconcern which he had worn for his sister’s 
benefit, and with hands clasped behind him, 
paced slowly up and down the room. 

Had Otto Cragfels been in the city long? 
It was strange they had not met. What a pity 
he could not be an unseen spectator of the little 
drama he felt sure would be enacted between 
Irene and the German; but no, he must get 
away — he must leave here. Cragfels could 
make it infernally uncomfortable for him, by 
George ! 

Why not get his father to let him go West? 
He had a friend who was part owner in a large 
ranch there; it would be a change, too, and he 
would not be exiled long. The Washington play 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


123 


would be a short one, he fancied. With the idea 
of consulting his father on this matter, he man- 
aged to ask the latter, while he was conversing 
with some gentlemen before dinner, for a few 
minutes’ conversation in his study after the 
guests had departed. 

During the dinner Stanley was as attentive 
and entertaining as usual, and the prim and con- 
ventional old dame beside him found herself re- 
laxing to an unexpected degree, even venturing 
a mild little joke of her own. 

But while he thus amused the tedious wife of 
one of the men whom Mr. Broadnax had in- 
vited to dine, his deeper thoughts were trying to 
evolve out of the chaos of speculation a reason- 
able excuse for a departure as sudden as the one 
he contemplated making. He could think of 
nothing that appeared feasible, and decided to 
trust to luck and his usual ability for forcing a 
natural appearance from circumstances ordi- 
narily considered peculiar. 


CHAPTER IX 


As his father, after bidding the rest of the 
family good night in the hall, motioned to Stan- 
ley to follow him, the latter could not but think 
what a devilish fix he’d be in were his father to 
suddenly conceive a desire for his assistance in 
the work upon which he was now engaged, thus 
requiring his presence in Washington. 

“Well, my boy, what is it?” 

Mr. Broadnax’s voice was encouraging, as al- 
ways. He turned out the gas as he spoke, leav- 
ing the red shaded lamp on his desk to illumine 
the room. Lighting the pipe which he always 
smoked before retiring, he leaned back in his 
chair and crossed one knee over the other, his 
fine gray head thrown into relief by the shadows 
behind him as the kindly blue eyes looked inquir- 
ingly toward his son, who had first seated him- 
self, and now rose, walking toward the mantle, 
against which he leaned his elbow, while his 
right hand toyed with a jeweled watch fob. 

Several moments elapsed before he answered 
his father’s question, saying rather hesitatingly, 
(124) 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 125 

“Er — the fact is, father, I’m a bit tired of this 
sort of life; — er — perhaps I’m just a natural- 
born roamer, sort of a ‘Wandering Jew,’ with 
the curse of eternal unrest hovering over me.” 
Then laughing, “Well, anyway, sometimes the 
craving comes over me to get away from my 
present surroundings.” 

Had Stanley been of these days, he would 
probably have quoted Kipling’s expressive lines, 

“I must go, go, go, away from here — 

At the other side of the world I’m overdue.” 


As it was, he did not feel that his father was 
much impressed with his vague yearnings, so 
decided to be more matter-of-fact. 

“I thought I’d like to go West. Jim Dorset 
has often insisted on my visiting his ranch, and 
I thought I might get some idea of what chance 
there is for financial success in that sort of 
thing.” 

He watched his father’s face closely, but the 
latter betrayed no emotion of any kind, so he 
continued rather lamely: 

“And then, anyway. I’d have seen something 
of that part of the country. What do you 


126 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


think of it, sir?” he finally asked, determined 
to make the elder man speak. 

Mr. Broadnax scrutinized the bowl of his 
briar pipe very closely before he made answer 
with a question, while his dark brows were 
raised in mild incredulity, and the heavy 
lowered lids were slightly drawn at the corners. 

“Is there no other reason for your desire for 
travel, change of scene?” he asked. 

Stanley shifted his position, wondering what 
the deuce the Governor meant, but that gentle- 
man continued, noting Stanley’s uneasiness: 

“I was thinking that perhaps you had found 
some one of these charming Washington ladies 
whose heart was inclined to be rather more 
frigid than one of our Southern temperament 
finds satisfying.” 

The discreetly lowered eyes were lifted now, 
and as Stanley met their glances he felt his father 
had been half laughing at him. It was just as 
well; let him think it was from some unkind 
fair one that he was fleeing. 

As he still continued silent, Mr. Broadnax 
looked up, his voice kindly and his eyes now 
gentle with sympathy. 

“Yes, my boy, go away for a while, if you 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 127 

want to; but you mustn’t stay away from us 
too long, Stanley; your mother and I are not 
such very young people any more, and you and 
Irene about make up the sum of our happiness, 
you know.” 

He put down the pipe absently, and rising 
with a slowness that corroborated his words, 
laid his hand on the young man’s shoulder, 
asking with a half-mocking smile, though his 
voice was tender : 

“Do you want to go soon?” 

“I — er want to go — at once, sir; that is — 
to-morrow, I mean.” 

Stanley cursed himself mentally for his absurd 
hesitation. What was the difference if his 
father chose to build up a fancy romance for 
him? How in thunder was it that his father 
could somehow get him all tangled up and con- 
fused, no matter how well he had planned a 
scene beforehand? 

It was very irritating; he really felt rather 
ill-used. 

“You are in a rush,” his father was saying. 
“Well, well, just as you wish. Good night, 
my son.” He patted Stanley’s shoulder affec- 
tionately, calling back through the door as he 


128 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


went on up to bed, “You mustn’t stay out there 
too long.” 

With an impatient shrug, Stanley dismissed 
this, as every other accomplished fact of his 
life, and putting out the red light, went up to 
his own rooms. Well, it was smooth sailing 
now, anyway. Let the family think he was 
bored with society, or hurt by some woman’s 
fickleness — what did he care? 

Irene heard the news of her brother’s im- 
mediate departure for the West when she 
reached the breakfast-room next morning; but 
Stanley himself had already left the house on 
some business, leaving word for her, however, 
that he did not wish his trip spoken of till after 
he started, which would be that night; so when 
Colonel Yelverton came she did not mention it, 
and during the ride her thoughts strayed 
occasionally from her companion and the beauti- 
ful country, to her brother whom she, like the 
rest of her family, supposed to be suffering 
from the cruel treatment of some heartless 
coquette. How could any woman treat him 
badly? And he would not confide even in her, 
whose sympathy had never failed! It was a 
bitter little reflection. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


129 


Meanwhile, Colonel Yelverton did his amiable 
best to amuse Irene, whom, indeed, he found 
to be the delightful person his fancy had pic- 
tured. 

They were riding at a brisk canter, the crisp 
autumn air bringing to Irene’s cheeks the bright 
color of health and pleasure, even as the same 
frosty wind, caressing the graceful maple tree 
near by, had made its heart throb till every 
fluttering leaf blushed warmly in sweet con- 
fusion, only to wither in sadness, and to fall 
at last in despair, as the frivolous trifler passed 
on, to woo with equally passionate ardor the 
demure young sycamore, her mantle of richest 
green drawn primly about her slender, youthful 
body. 

As the riders reached the summit of one of 
the small hills that interrupted the level course 
of the road, Horace Yelverton halted, signing 
to Irene to do likewise, as he drew her attention 
to the view before them. 

“Now, Miss Broadnax, with that white house 
way beyond you, gazing down upon up with its 
air of saintly truthfulness, I want to ask you 
if you don’t think this,” indicating with a wide 
sweep of his ajm the prospect before them. 


9 


130 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“is worth coming out here to see, even granting 
the discordant element of a Yankee courier?” 

“Is that Washington’s house over yonder?” 
Irene asked, ignoring the latter part of his 
speech. “What an ideal spot for a home!” 

Then turning to her companion, as his eyes 
looked to the left, she exclaimed: 

“Oh! but that is beautiful!” 

Though she made no further comment, the 
suppressed fervor of her single exclamation 
satisfied Yelverton that she fully appreciated the 
beauty of the country about them. 

To the right of the road were low cabins, 
rough-fashioned human nests, sheltered by the 
protecting foliage of fruit trees, and shrubs now 
in full autumn splendor, the russet gold persim- 
mons, with their black caps, adding a note of 
richness to the rural picturesqueness over which 
the serene blue of the heavens cast a peaceful 
spell, while the sun’s bright rays seemed at- 
tracted to the noble house in the distance that 
shone with startling whiteness beneath the 
shadowing trees. 

As the eye, dazzled by the sun-brightened 
whiteness of the house upon the hill, turned to 
the left, it followed the sloping hillside, till it 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 131 

reached the broad expanse of the Potomac, 
reflecting in its calmly placid depths the azure 
of the sky smiling down upon it, while it flowed 
its tranquil course with gentle dignity, as if con- 
scious of traveling toward a pleasant destina- 
tion. 

“I believe you rather like it,” Yelverton 
remarked casually as Irene still continued to 
gaze with absorbed enjoyment at the river 
below. 

“Look at those ripples?” Irene answered. 
“It almost seems as if it were smiling up at the 
sun, doesn’t it?” 

Yelverton had dismounted, and as he now 
assisted Irene to alight he advanced his opinion 
on the subject, to the effect that even the 
majestic old Potomac was probably flattered by 
the admiring sentiments of the Virginia critic, 
and was endeavoring to show his grateful ap- 
preciation. 

“Now, Miss Broadnax, I have not brought 
you up on this mount merely to excite your 
enthusiasm for the abstract beauties of nature; 
but, like the dark-featured Courier of Scripture, 
on a similar expedition, I have a selfish purpose 
in view, which is, to beg that you let me make 


132 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


a little sketch of you some time up here, seated 
on that mossy boulder over there, with the 
wonderful coloring of the foliage for a back- 
ground. Would you mind? It would only 
have to be for a short while — I mean it wouldn’t 
require any tedious, long posing, you know, and, 
I say, you have no idea what a ripping picture 
it would make! And then, if you approve of 
it, when completed I shall present it to you with 
due form and ceremony. Now what do you 
say?” 

“Why — er, that’s mighty nice of you, to 
want to take so much trouble about a picture, 
and then present the fruit of your labors to 
me ; but really, I can’t quite see where the selfish 
part comes in?” 

She had half turned from him as she spoke, 
so he did not see the mischievous smile that tried 
to upset the grave interest in her countenance. 

“Oh, that’s all right,” Yelverton assured her 
in earnest haste. “My selfish pleasure comes in 
during the work; it’s a rare treat for me. By 
Jove! now — ” He hesitated, and as Irene, 
seated on the boulder, looked up inquiringly, he 
resumed, “I was going to say, I would so like 
to get you in that — er — gray gown you wore 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 133 

yesterday. Don’t suppose you could manage it, 
could you? Can’t ride in that sort of thing, I 
guess,” he rambled on, almost to himself; then 
viewing Irene from different angles, “Awful 
pity, that gray would be perfect against all this 
brilliance.” 

All at once Irene’s face brightened, and she 
announced : 

“I have it! — that is, if it would really be so 
much better than this black habit.” Then 
mysteriously, “We could have the gray gown 
and hat sent up to one of those funny little 
places,” indicating an adjacent cabin, “and then 
I could put it on here. Am I not wonderfully 
clever?” 

“Clever!” Yelverton repeated, “you are a 
marvel ! Let’s go see how far the soothing influ- 
ence of lucre can aid our plans with our friends 
across the road. I fancy we can arrange it, if 
you are not prejudiced enough to object to hav- 
ing a few black Spanish hens as ladies of the 
wardrobe, and that venerable old goat as a 
guard — as I live, he has only three legs! Well, 
all the better for me if I have to overpower him 
in order to set the princess free.” 

They had now reached the dwelling, and the 


134 the german bracelet 

middle-aged woman who answered their inquiries 
assured them that they were perfectly wel- 
come — for a consideration, which Yelerton con- 
veyed to her willing palm — to have the use of 
her house as the young lady desired. So it was 
agreed that two days later they should send 
the gray suit, and come up themselves. 

They did not linger this morning, as Irene 
was anxious to spend some little time with her 
brother before his departure in the evening. 
He was busy packing when she returned, and 
permitted her to assist him, with that half-ap- 
preciative, half-humorously indifferent manner 
that made one feel it was a favor conferred, 
instead of accepted, to be allowed to perform 
any service for that young man. 

He left by an early night train, gay and 
smiling, and his mother, wiping her eyes as the 
cab rolled away, said in a broken voice that 
“Stanley, the dear boy, was always so brave 
about everything.” 

The weather continued clear, and many de- 
lightful hours were spent upon the hill in the 
vicinity of Mount Vernon, Yelverton contriving 
to make Irene comfortable on the rock with 
soft rugs, without however, spoiling the effect 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 135 

of his picture, which progressed satisfactorily, 
notwithstanding the long interruptions that the 
artist explained were merely necessary rest 
periods. 

In their rides to and from the place, and dur- 
ing the conversations that occupied the resting- 
time, they found many points of mutual interest, 
and were surprised to discover how many ideas 
and private opinions on various subjects were 
shared by both. 

To Horace Yelverton these days were won- 
derfully happy, and as he felt himself falling 
completely under the spell of the deep eyes that 
seemed to hold within them the mysterious 
sweetness as well as the velvety color of the 
wood violet, he made no effort to wrench him- 
self free from the thrall their charms had cast 
over him. He was content for the immediate 
present to drift; some day he would tell her 
how the faintest murmur of her voice set every 
string of his heart vibrating in perfect sympathy 
and accord with her slightest wish. 

How bewitchingly her lips curved when her 
gay spirits prompted her to some intentional 
misconstruction of his clumsily expressed ad- 
miration! She seemed to enjoy his presence. 


136 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

but was there any feeling corresponding to his 
own beneath her mere surface pleasure? 

He dared not hope — yet at least she liked him 
as a friend; but — he did not want friendship, 
no half measures, no platonic nonsense, and all 
that rot for him ! He’d win every atom of that 
high-spirited, generous heart of hers if he had 
a ghost of a chance; and if he didn’t, why — 
oh, well, what’s the use of taking an unneces- 
sary leap into pessimism? He was not quite 
so pleased with the drifting process when he had 
reached this point in his meditations, and feel- 
ing he had better think it over a bit further, 
set off on a long ramble by himself, for, as he 
reasoned logically, just because he’s in love’s no 
reason why a fellow need be a consummate fool. 


CHAPTER X 


Irene had seen Margaret Hardway but once 
since the afternoon at her house, and then only 
for a few moments, in which she had found no 
opportunity to ask her further about her Ger- 
man cousin; and then Margaret had gone to 
Philadelphia for a visit of several weeks, and 
Irene had not wished to write about it; why, 
she hardly knew herself. Now, however, her 
friend had returned, and they had planned a 
visit to a loan exhibition of some very fine paint- 
ings, where, Irene promised herself, she should 
have the chance of obtaining some information 
concerning Margaret’s cousin. 

The idea had occurred to her frequently to 
ask Colonel Yelverton what he knew of this 
man who had been in his regiment, but an* 
inexplicable feeling of unwillingness to introduce 
into their agreeable discourse the mention of this 
disturbing element in her own life invariably re- 
strained her. 

As Irene and Margaret mounted the steps 
that led up to the suite of rooms loaned by a 
(137) 


138 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

club for the exhibition, the latter was still bear- 
ing her friend onward with her over the sea 
of social festivity through which an aunt had 
piloted her during her stay in the Quaker City. 
As wave after wave of thrilling experience beat 
against Irene’s ear, she wondered whether there 
would ever be a cessation sufficient for her to 
obtain any information. 

“Oh, and, Irene, there was one woman there 
so funny; she — ” Then interrupting herself 
as they entered the first room, “Mercy! what 
a peculiar thing. Did you ever see a sunrise like 
that? But hush, we mustn’t criticise rashly, 
that may be the masterpiece of the whole col- 
lection.” 

She lisped her warning in awed tones as they 
advanced toward a portrait further on. 

“Isn’t she the dear, good-natured old soul? 
Pity she couldn’t have held a nice Angora, like 
Ching-Ching, instead of that ugly little black 
and — Well, goodness! Look, Irene, there’s 
Cousin Otto, and — who’s that with him?” 

Not heeding Irene’s murmur of detention, 
Margaret, who had been seen by the two men, 
greeted them cordially, and presented them as 
“Mr. Irby and my cousin Otto Cragfels.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 139 

As Irene caught the name of Cragfels she 
immediately remembered the man who had been 
her brother’s friend, and had then greatly 
wronged him, as Stanley had said; but how 
could this be that man? Surely her brother 
must have recognized her description of the 
man — his very unusual appearance. 

While her mind was still confused, Mar- 
garet and Mr. Irby started onward, and Irene 
realized that the German was speaking to her. 
Her first impulse was to ignore him, and, in 
some way, leave the place ; but then the thought 
came, he is Margaret’s cousin, I cannot hurt her 
feelings by snubbing him. 

“Fate seems to have destined us to be ever 
a surprise, each to the other, Miss Broadnax,” 
Cragfels was saying, and Irene forced herself 
to reply coldly: 

“Yes, the surprise and the advantage seem 
to be equal this time,” determined that he 
should know at once that his relation to Mar- 
garet procured for him courteous toleration for 
the present moment, but insured no blurring of 
the past. 

“Miss Broadnax,” the German said, “I ap- 
pear in a very bad light to you ; you think every- 


140 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

thing evil of me, I doubt not. If I could, per- 
haps, be fortunate enough to make you under- 
stand the situation to some extent, you would 
realize that your brother is the cause of all the 
trouble. That bracelet, do you have it?” 

Irene answered affirmatively. 

“That is mine, and to recover it I came all 
the way from Germany. I had lost track of 
you, and I have been down in Virginia where 
people told me different places that you had 
gone; then, when I arrived here, I knew you 
would not receive me at your house, and I have 
tried to arrange to meet you.” 

He paused. 

“Did you try to meet me one afternoon at 
Margaret’s? I suppose you arranged to meet 
me here?” Irene questioned with annoyance. 
Was the man trying a new scheme? She must 
be wary. 

“No, I did not know that my Cousin Mar- 
garetta is a friend of yours, and it was by 
accident I met you here. Your brother, he is 
in Washington, may I ask?” 

“You may ask, certainly, Mr. Cragfels; but 
I do not care to reply to the inquiries of one who 
slanders my brother.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 141 

Irene moved toward the others, but Cragfels 
said in a low, earnest voice, as he followed her: 

“Are you quite wise. Miss Broadnax, to 
refuse to hear me? It is possible for a sister 
to be in ignorance of her brother’s actions, and 
it is because of this I would suggest that you 
allow me to speak, to explain. Listen,” as 
Irene again started to join the couple in front, 
“you are willing to wear a stolen gift?” 

Irene now faced him squarely, saying in a 
firm, determined voice, from which she strove 
to keep the anger that made her face white: 

“Mr. Cragfels, when you first forced your- 
self upon my notice by rifling my jewel box, 
and then, unsatisfied, wrenched my brother’s 
gift from my arm, I took you to be a half-de- 
mented raider; later when you surprised me in 
the grove, while you were prowling about watch- 
ing my home, I presume, I took you for an 
ordinary thief, who assumed at will a manner 
indicating madness; but now you seem to be 
acting a more complicated role, which I do not 
care even to try to understand. You come to 
me with an absurd story of my brother having 
presented to me a bracelet which was not really 
his — ^which you claim belongs to you; it is 


142 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ridiculous! If you can prove your assertion 
you should take your proofs to the authorities 
if you cannot arrange the matter with my 
brother; I will not allow myself to be further 
annoyed by your persistence. I have refrained 
from speaking to my parents of your second 
attempt to procure this bracelet, merely because 
it seemed of such a trifling consequence; but, 
as you choose to continue this absurd acting, I 
shall speak to my father this evening, and he 
will know what measures to take should you 
still feel inclined to test my patience and for- 
bearance as you have already done.’’ 

As Irene looked toward Margaret and Mr. 
Irby she could not but perceive that the conver- 
sation which engrossed them seemed a bit too 
absorbing for a mere discussion of the distinc- 
tive merits of the artistic productions upon the 
walls, and concluded that it would be an un- 
pardonably inopportune moment in which to 
interrupt them. Resigning herself to the in- 
evitable, which in the present instance took the 
form of the bulky man before her, she was con- 
sidering whether she should appear interested 
in the pictures and refuse to notice her com- 
panion further; but Cragfels leaned toward her 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 143 

slightly as she bent forward to study a canvas 
more closely, saying: 

“So — tell your father, if you wish! You 
doubt that I have proofs; and it is because of 
this I do not put the matter in the hands of the 
authorities, you say; and more, you say if I 
cannot arrange with your brother. Ach! but 
yes, I can, in the shortest time arrange with him ; 
but I cannot find him — it is he that I want; but 
I ask you where is he, and you refuse to tell me. 
Ah, believe me, Fraulein, it would be most 
easily arranged if it were to your brother, instead 
of to you, that I were speaking!” 

He laughed, showing his square white teeth 
in a way that struck Irene as being unpleasantly 
similar to a canine’s vicious grin. 

“Where is, then, your brother, Herr Broad- 
nax?” 

Irene enjoyed the man’s voice no more than 
she did his smile; somehow she was beginning 
to feel a trifle uncomfortable, but she gave no 
evidence of this as she answered: 

“You are probably under the impression that 
I know nothing of you, but you are mistaken. 
I know you have done my brother a great 
wrong, and if I answer your question, it is 


144 the german bracelet 


simply because it is of no consequence, one way 
or the other, that you should know he has gone 
away. You have probably known this, and 
have on that account pretended you could come 
to terms if Stanley were here.” 

She watched the German narrowly as she 
spoke, and could not help feeling that his 
muttered exclamation of intense vexation, as she 
mentioned her brother^ absence, was genuine. 
He appeared to forget her presence for the 
moment as his head was bent in thought. 
Seeming at last to feel that Irene’s inquiring 
glance rested upon him, he raised his head, say- 
ing roughly: 

“Ach, Himmel! how do I know to believe 
you ? I have believed him too. Once again, I 
will ask of you to give up to me that bracelet, 
and I shall leave your precious brother unmo- 
lested. Will you do so? It is no use to tell you 
the true facts of the case, you would not believe 
me. I wronged him, he says, — for it was of 
course he that told you. Will you give me the 
bracelet? That speech of your brother’s was 
entirely false. Will you give it to me?” 

His voice was low, but intense, and the queer 
eyes were like black beads under the bushy 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 145 

brows, while there was a drawn look at the 
corners of the large, straight mouth. 

As Irene looked into Cragfels’s face she 
shivered slightly. Her glance wandered about 
the room to the different groups of people, and 
then, attracted against her will by something in 
the man’s expression, she found herself again 
meeting the glittering eyes that watched her with 
a steady, unwavering intentness. She roused 
herself. Heavens ! was she going to let the 
man’s ugliness hypnotize her to such a degree 
that she could not speak? 

‘^No! I will not give it to you,” she said de- 
cisively; “and, as my patience is quite exhausted, 
you may consider this subject — between you 
and myself — as finally closed.” 

She moved in the direction of Margaret and 
Mr. Irby, who were advancing toward them, 
but she caught Cragfels’s words as she walked 
on : 

“It is you who have chosen. You will now see 
what you have done for your brother. You 
would accept no private means — as you wish, 
then ; it shall not need the police to make public 
what kind of man your brother is. But do not 
fancy I have crossed an ocean for that bracelet. 


146 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


to allow you to interfere with my obtaining it in 
the end!” 

“Irene, it doesn’t look to me as if you and 
Otto had done this exhibition thoroughly; you’re 
in almost the same place we left you. Otto, I 
don’t believe your comfortable Teutonic soul 
would give one shudder if every masterpiece of 
art in the whole world were used as fuel for a 
Fourth of July bonfire.” 

Margaret sniffed scornfully. Cragf'els had 
assumed his usual demeanor of placid content- 
ment with people and his surroundings in gen- 
eral, and he answered his cousin pleasantly 
enough. 

“I protest, my dear Margaretta; it is 
possible that I may not be appreciative of art, 
but I assure you, nevertheless, that my soul 
would shudder violently at the thought of such 
a conflagration in honor of an American, rather 
than a German, victory. You shall at least 
grant me the credit of being a patriot.” 

“Having acknowledged your lack of artistic 
sensibility, will you tell me why you and Mr. 
Irby were sauntering about this place; does one 
nourish patriotism on a diet of this sort of 
thing?” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


147 


Margaret laughed, linking her arm through 
Irene’s, saying; 

“You two people had better come home with 
us for luncheon ; even patriots must eat once in 
a while, you know,” she continued tormentingly, 
to Cragfels, who was always a target for her 
teasing. 

“Irene,” she said abruptly, “you never 
dreamed, in. your vainest moments, of such pos- 
ing as a man can be capable of attempting. 
You should have heard Mr. Irby explaining the 
why and wherefores of various details of one 
of those large pictures — the pathetic story of 
the artist’s life, and numerous incidents that 
made the work of exceptional interest; and 
then,” Margaret’s beautiful fair brows were 
raised in wonder, and her voice sank as she 
repeated, “and then, I drew his attention to a 
minor feature which did not seem to agree with 
his Arabian Nights description, and — can you 
believe it — he stammered confusedly, and when 
I accused him squarely, he was forced to admit 
he wasn’t quite sure which picture that story 
belonged to, but, judging this to be one of the 
largest, and having a gold medal awarded it, 
he thought it might as well have the story too I 


148 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Now don’t you think I have the fortitude of a 
martyr to insist on taking them home with us 
after such a mental shock?” 

She appealed to Irene, but Mr. Irby pleaded 
in self-defense: 

“My intentions were sans peur, et san re- 
proche; in other words, I sought to amuse, and 
I’ve heard a more merciful critic declare that 
many offenses should be forgiven him who 
amuses even a little. And if you,” gazing 
reproachfully at Margaret, “had not pointed the 
finger of scorn toward that eagle which you 
declared was nothing but an excited barnyard 
fowl, my instructive discourse might have 
proved of lasting benefit to you, as also to the 
couple from the country who were catching 
with wide open mouths the syllables of wisdom 
that fell from my lips.” 

“And they say that women talk!” Margaret 
murmured plaintively; and then, in a feeble 
voice, and leaning heavily upon Irene’s arm, she 
asked again if they would go home with her to 
lunch. 

“We thank you,” Irby replied, without giving 
Cragfels the opportunity to speak, “but,” with 
an elaborately low bow, “er — it is not possible; 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 149 

it would be a pleasure, but alas! other voices 
call.” 

He waved his arm vaguely towards the upper 
air, concluding: 

“Cragfels, to nourish the patriotic fervor, will 
probably lunch on jerked beef and hard tack, 
while I, in memory of our foul dispute, will 
indulge in chicken-broth; I had some once at 
a place near here where art students dine, and 
it’s as well to have one’s mind occupied — pre- 
occupied — during the process.” 

“Many things, I can stand, but a pun — Oh I 
Mr. Irby, I would not have believed it of you — 
farewell! farewell!” 


CHAPTER XI 


Irene had hardly heeded the exchange of rail- 
lery, and as she and Margaret hastened toward 
the latter’s home she abruptly asked her : 

“Who is your German cousin?” 

“Why, you dear stupid!” Margaret bubbled, 
“the German is my cousin, and vice versa ; what 
more can I say? He is the son of my mother’s 
brother. Mother’s family was German, you 
know, but she was brought here when a child by 
an aunt who raised her, for her parents both 
died young; an uncle brought up her brother, 
Otto’s father, and he married some woman of 
noble birth over there. But I really don’t know 
much about Otto’s family,” she added reflec- 
tively. 

“Is he any relation to the German Ambassa- 
dor?” Irene asked. 

“Oh, yes, in a way, sort of second or third 
cousin or something distant; but of course 
Baron Von Plogenburg is a much older man. 
He is rather fond of Otto, I believe. Don’t 
you like Mr. Irby?” she questioned irrelevantly. 
(150) 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 15 1 

“Who? — oh, — er, — ^yes, indeed.” 

Irene’s absent manner was so unlike her usual 
quick sympathy that Margaret turned to her, 
two little wrinkles drawing the delicate white 
forehead as she inquired anxiously : 

“Irene, what’s the matter with you, don’t you 
like Otto? I’m not wildly enthusiastic about 
him myself; always makes me think of a carved 
block of wood that has suddenly decided to walk 
and speak — he has such uncanny eyes; but any- 
way, what makes you behave so queerly every 
time you see him? At the house you shot like 
an arrow, clean out of sight, and to-day, when 
Mr. Irby and I approached, you two looked 
as though you’d been playing cross-tag on the 
crater of Vesuvius. What is it?” 

Irene laughed, but her friend knew she was 
a bit upset, for all that, as she answered with 
rather forced gayety : 

“He makes me a trifle curious, that’s all. I 
never saw a person just like him before, and I 
was wondering how there could be any relation- 
ship between you-all.” 

“We are something of a contrast, aren’t we? 
He doesn’t look as if he were meant to talk — 
while I — ^well ! ‘Men may come, and men may 


152 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

go, but I go on forever.’ ” And so they dis- 
missed the subject. 

Cragfels and his companion parted at the 
foot of the steps that led to the club, Mr. Irby 
having an appointment. 

“Sorry, Craggie boy, to have euchered you 
out of a lunch with two such charming — ah, 
you don’t think so — well, then I won’t waste 
my regrets; really couldn’t let you have them 
both, you know. Going my way — no? Well, 
see you to-night at the club.” 

And he was gone, swinging the latest thing in 
the way of a cane, with an airy indifference that 
presently brought down upon his head an aval- 
anche of abuse from a column-like female in 
black, about whom gamboled three black 
dachshunds, the foremost of which came into 
collision with the cane’s swinging activity, pro- 
testing loudly as he completed a double somer- 
sault. 

With a spirit chastened by the lashing of a 
woman’s tongue, which possesses power exceed- 
ing that of the pen, as the latter does the 
might of the sword, Irby hastened toward his 
destination, wondering what made Cragfels 
such a queer old duck, and deciding that, after 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 153 

all, those smooth-going, putty-faced people 
sometimes act the very devil when they do get 
started. No ! he’d not make any putty-faced 
man angry — he’d always said they were danger- 
ous, and he’d get his excitement some other way, 
thank you. 

If the Devil be of a type of activity, then 
Cragfels’s mind was acting according to the 
indications of his complexion; and as one flat, 
square foot after the other bore down upon the 
pavement, his mind was bearing down, with 
equal determination, upon the problem of the 
destruction of his enemy. 

Yes, but they should pay for this! Stanley, 
with his patronizing air of winning another 
man’s money — he would hurt him, if he had 
any spot in his callous heart soft enough to feel 
the cruel, many-pronged weapon with which he 
would pin him down, down into that dust which 
his slender feet trod so condescendingly. He, 
Stanley, should be ruined socially, here, as in 
Heidelberg; and his parents, and his sister too, 
Irene, they called her. 

The German’s wrathful meditations were 
broken into by an unusually mild reflection. He 
was conscious of a feeling akin to regret that 


154 the german bracelet 

the beautiful, bright-eyed girl, for whom he 
felt an unacknowledged admiration in spite of 
her determined opposition, should be made to 
suffer; but he scornfully buried the weakness, 
as he termed it, in that cemetery to which most 
of us have sent our share of corpses — impulses, 
and aspirations, whose timid voices are scarcely 
heard before we strangle them remorselessly, 
and hasten to heap upon them the heavy clay 
of our will, that they may not interfere with our 
proposed life. Bah! she must pay the penalty 
of being Stanley’s sister and wearing that brace- 
let, and no idle consideration for her should alter 
his determination to ruin the man who had 
robbed him of his dearest possession. Yes; he 
had heard rumors of an expected engagement 
with the wealthy Colonel Yelverton — he’d dis- 
arrange that too ; he would get back his brace- 
let, his principal, and they should all contribute 
to the heavy interest he would exact. 

Did Shylock, the foolish old Jew, fancy that 
he was extorting the highest usury when he 
dangled a man’s life by his pound of flesh? 
No! the way to deal with these high-strung, 
sensitive creatures is to recoup one’s fortune, 
one’s self-esteem, out of the coffers of their 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 155 

pride, their love; to soothe the irritation of 
one’s vanity with the balm of their tearful 
anguish; “that’s the way to square accounts, 
Shylock, my friend, and that’s the way I’m 
going to square mine!” 

He had reached his apartments, and entering, 
closed the door of his sitting-room with a bang, 
and throwing his hat and coat carelessly upon 
the couch, flung himself, with scarcely more 
care, into the large oak chair before his writing- 
table. 

It struck one at a glance that everything about 
the man was large and clumsy, almost out of 
proportion. The draperies hung in ungraceful 
folds; the heavy pendulum of the bronze clock 
checked off the minutes in loudly aggressive 
ticks; even the accessories of his writing-table 
before him seemed bulky and ill shapen; while 
over all hung the dull, colorless atmosphere of a 
room made hideous by the lack of that intimate, 
personal note pervading the abode of the beauty- 
loving individual, he who desires loveliness 
about him as an outward manifestation of the 
abstract beauty and truth that he requires of the 
inner being. 

Cragfels thoughtfully gnawed the end of his 


156 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

penholder before he commenced writing, then, 
with a jerky movement, he dipped its point into 
the ink and wrote. His first letter was to the 
Countess Geyelin, and he wrote unhesitatingly; 
but as his stub pen traveled over the pages of 
the second letter, to Mademoiselle Eunice, he 
frequently paused to twirl upwards with im- 
patience his stiff mustache, only to resume, with 
irritated haste, the movement of his pen across 
the pages that it covered with small closely 
joined characters. This literary feat accom- 
plished, he rang and as his servant appeared 
told him to mail the letters immediately. 

As the latter took them and noiselessly left 
the room, Cragfels rose from the big oak chair 
and walked over to a small table which held 
a handsomely inlaid chess-board on which were 
arranged chessmen of beautifully carved ivory. 
Filling and lighting a pipe, Cragfels began by 
moving a piece here and there, idly, but gradu- 
ally, as the fascination of the game, with its 
possibilities and half disclosed chances so 
parallel to the universal game of life, compelled 
his closer interest, he became absorbed in the 
problem to which each successive move gave a 
new aspect. Finally his pipe went out; un- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 157 


heeding, he continued to plan, to oppose one 
piece to another; tired now of standing, he 
dropped upon one knee, his eyes never leaving 
the board, striving and contriving, by strategy, 
by force, always to outwit, to overpower, to con- 
quer; his mind and nature united in following 
the instinct that prompted to compel submission, 
to force the enemy to acknowledge defeat. 

Time passed without his knowledge; the sun 
streamed in the window as it traveled westward ; 
all unnoticed, his lunch hour had slipped by 
long since; yet still the broad, blunt fingers 
moved softly and cautiously the ivory chessmen, 
till finally, his queer eyes glittering and muscles 
cramped, he chuckled, — a guttural, coarse ex- 
pression of victory, — as, leaning back against 
the side of an arm chair, he addressed his 
imaginary adversary: 

“I have beaten you, you disdainful little 
fool!’’ 

Again he laughed in satisfaction. 

“Ah 1 Fraulein Irene, I will not only beat you, 
but crush you. That band that encircles your 
arm shall compress within its narrow circuit 
you pride and happiness; it shall tighten about 
your heart till you beg of me — and I shall 


158 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

laugh! And Stanley, — Mein Gotti It shall 
all fall upon you. Never fear, Fll have proofs 
enough. Blockhead, am I? We shall see!” 

Rising slowly, and stretching himself, Crag- 
fels realized he was hungry, and went out to 
get his belated lunch. 

While thus engaged his mind reverted to the 
scene that had ensued upon his discovery of 
Mademoiselle Eunice’s treachery. Ach, Him- 
mel ! how the little creature had raved, and how 
he himself had stormed! They had finally be- 
come reconciled, and Eunice had vowed to aid 
him in any way possible to recover the bracelet. 
He did not believe her implicitly, but the 
Frenchwoman was too keen for him, and he 
could never pin her down to an actual falsehood. 

And then, in spite of the way she had used, 
misused him, he, fool that he called himself, 
loved her, with whatever capacity for that 
much-discussed emotion he possessed. So he 
forgave her, and after he had found out the 
significance of the bracelet he had promised 
Eunice, despite traditionary custom, to marry 
her as soon as he recovered the missing 
treasure. 

Then he thought of the two letters he had 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 159 

just sent, and his lips parted in the smile that 
Irene found so repelling. 

He had another scheme or two that needed 
a little mental consideration, and he sauntered 
toward his club to reduce his plans to an order 
of practical usefulness. 

A few days later Cragfels met Irene at a 
musicale, and being near the door as the guests 
were leaving, he managed to say in a low voice 
to her as she brushed by him, her head held high 
as her eyes looked past, studiously avoiding him : 

“You desire to ignore me? My proofs have 
been sent for; when they arrive you will desire 
still more to avoid me.” 

But Irene passed serenely on, down the hall 
and steps to the victoria that awaited her, ap- 
parently not hearing him, for she had deter- 
mined not to speak with the man except when 
his cousin’s presence would require it, in order 
that Margaret might not be led to suspect the 
existence of graver reasons for her attitude than 
had, at first, appeared. 

However, if Irene’s composure was not out- 
wardly ruffled by Cragfels’s speech, it made its 
impression none the less upon her mind, which 
had lately suffered the intrusion of strange, half- 


i6o THE GERMAN BRACELET 


formed doubts that she tried in vain to dispel. 
Ever since the conversation with Cragfels at 
the picture gallery she had been vaguely dis- 
turbed, not solely by his words, though truly 
they had been unpleasant, but equally by his 
manner, and an uneasy conviction that the man 
was, to some degree, sincere. 

She had intended, as she had said, to tell her 
father immediately; but that evening Mr. 
Broadnax was out at a business meeting till late, 
and on another occasion he had looked so worn 
and tired that her heart had failed her. What, 
after all, was there to tell of any consequence, 
if Cragfels’s accusations were merely a wild 
fabrication — and it was absurd to think them 
anything else? No, she would wait till some 
more tangible reason presented itself, before 
worrying her father; and her mother was not 
strong enough to bear the nervous strain which 
such a confidence might cause. If she could 
only ask Colonel Yelverton what he thought of 
the German’s behavior, and what meaning or 
motive he would be inclined to ascribe to his 
actions! But no, she could not; she felt an 
inexplicable distaste to broaching the subject to 
this young Northern man with whom she had 


THE GERMAN BRACELET i6i 


passed so many delightful hours, and who had 
come to occupy a very prominent place in her 
thoughts. Was this hesitation because she 
feared there was some grain of truth in Crag- 
fels’s assertion? Did she doubt her Ijrother? 
She apologized mentally to him, but neverthe- 
less there were misgivings that refused to be 
quieted. If in her thoughts she wronged him,, 
she would keep the bracelet he had given her, 
all the more determinedly against any number 
of Cragfels’s open accusations or covert insinua- 
tions. It might be through this strange bracelet 
that he had previously wronged Stanley; no, he 
should not have it! 

Irene was tired, and she did not feel amiable ; 
she leaned back in the carriage, telling the coach- 
man to go the long way home. Ugh 1 how she 
hated the old bracelet. She raised the arm that 
it encircled and studied it with a curiosity tinged 
with aversion. 

She wore a gown of darkest purple lightened 
with artistic touches of pale lavender, and 
against the dark suede gloves that reached to the 
elbow the pale gold band showed to advantage, 
with its filigree work in which the roses seemed 
to stand out in relief from the gracefully twin- 


1 62 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ing vine that covered the surface. What won- 
derful workmanship; and that beautiful pearl, 
pink as the first flush of dawn upon the dreaming 
sky; it was perfect, but, how she was growing 
to almost loathe the thing ! 


CHAPTER XII 


As her eyes wandered over the passing car- 
riages and the pedestrians that sauntered along 
the sidewalks, she was suddenly roused from 
her abstraction by recognizing Colonel Yelver- 
ton among the latter, and as he approached her 
carriage she ordered the coachman to stop, in- 
viting Yelverton to the seat beside her. Irene’s 
face was bright and smiling; the listlessness had 
departed by a magic none the less wonderful 
that its potency is exerted so frequently as to 
render it commonplace. 

“Awfully good of you to let me sit here in 
the rays of your glory.” 

And as Irene laughed, he continued : 

“On my word, you have no idea how regal 
you look, purple robes, prancing steeds, and all 
that sort of thing; and then, just to complete 
the picture of the sweetly gracious sovereign, 
you order the chariot to halt, and invite a 
humble wayfarer to sit beside you, in the sun- 
shine of your — Oh, you needn’t now, I know 
that aged, but it’s the sayings and things that 

(163) 


1 64 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


stand the wear and tear of time and usage that 
ought to be venerated as of proved worth.” 

“I agree with you as to the veneration, but I 
don’t believe in risking such precious antiques 
in an ordinary conversation, where one doesn’t 
hesitate to toss carelessly back and forth expres- 
sions that have not yet reached the three score 
and ten limit. But do look, is that Mrs. Pannell 
driving toward us ? What a stunning turnout !” 
as that lady flashed by, driving a high-stepping 
bay, her smart cart and still smarter costume 
making her a noticeable figure on the drive. 

She bowed, smilingly, but as her eyes took 
in Irene’s regal appearance their expression 
changed, and she favored the latter with a cool 
stare as she flicked her horse lightly with the 
whip, causing that excitable animal to jump for- 
ward with a spring that gave his driver an oppor- 
tunity of exhibiting her accomplishments as a 
horsewoman. 

“Mercy, what a look!” Irene exclaimed 
faintly. 

“Look!” Yelverton repeated, “I should call 
it a frapped glare that we were favored with. 
By thunder! a woman must have a regular ice- 
house of a heart to fetch up that kind of a 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 165 

glance. Just fancy living with such a refriger- 
ator !” 

“It was not toward ‘we’ that she directed that 
glance — it was all for me.” 

Irene smiled with mild amusement at her com- 
panion, and he answered, as if settling the ques- 
tion : 

“Jealousy, women’s — some women’s — beset- 
ting sin, all on account of that majestic air of 
yours ; you know I spoke to you about it ; can’t 
say I didn’t draw your attention to the fact.” 

“Yes, indeed; but let me draw your attention 
to a story of which your extravagant speech re- 
minds me. It really happened, you know, to 
a cousin of mine, who married a clergyman. 
The reverend husband was called to a small 
town ’way down South, and went on ahead to 
have things prepared a little. There was an 
old bandy-legged darky, quite a character in the 
place, delighting in long words, who was very 
much taken with the new minister, and who 
busied himself greatly to have everything ready 
for ‘de parson’s missus.’ Very anxious he was 
about the arrival of ‘de parson’s missus,’ and 
kept asking when she would come ; he seemed to 
feel that such a fine man should have a suitable 


1 66 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


helpmate. When she finally arrived the darky, 
concealed within the station, observed her very 
closely as she alighted from the train and walked 
toward the carriage. Being asked later by one 
of his cronies what the parson’s ‘missus’ was 
like, he replied with enthusiasm: 

“ ‘She am de stuff, an’ de quality, fo’ she sho’ 
do r’ar back, an’ walk wid a heap o’ indigna- 
tion!’ — meaning dignity.” 

“I say,” Yelverton was still laughing, 
they’re a funny lot, aren’t they, those darkies?” 

“Yes, they’re droll creatures,” Irene assented; 
then turning to Yelverton as the carriage drove 
up before the Broadnax home, “You’ll come in, 
won’t you?” 

But Yelverton couldn’t accept, he was due 
on the other side of the city in an hour; so he 
thanked her, and turned up the street; while the 
young woman realized that she was really tired ; 
she must have forgotten it temporarily, but she 
was certainly fatigued. 

When she reached her room and rang for her 
maid the girl entered with a woeful countenance, 
and upon Irene’s inquiring the cause, declared 
she had just received news of her brother’s dying 
condition and must hasten to him at once. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 167 

Irene, all sympathy with the thought of her own 
trouble on a brother’s account, readily agreed to 
let the girl go for a week or so, the latter ex- 
plaining she had a friend who would be only 
too glad of the place while she was away, and 
Irene would find her entirely satisfactory. With 
much crying and many protestations of grati- 
tude, the maid left the room, saying her friend 
would be there to dress Irene for the dance to 
which she was going that night. 

Irene dismissed the subject with the depart- 
ing maid, and as she explained a few details to 
the new one while her hair was being dressed 
that evening, she scarcely gave the matter a 
thought except to the effect that this maid was 
rather quick, and would probably do very well ; 
and she echoed this reflection when she returned 
home that night and found everything in order 
and Marie amiable and eager to please. 

“Does Mademoiselle wish me to unclasp ze 
bracelet?” she asked as she unfastened the string 
of pearls about Irene’s neck, after the latter had 
dropped some jeweled pins and rings into a case 
upon the dressing-table. 

Irene looked down at the single piece of 
jewelry she still wore, saying: 


1 68 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“No, Marie, I do not take that off.” 

Marie bent down from behind Irene’s chair, 
smiling deprecatingly as she questioned: 

“No? Ah, it ees ver beautiful, Mees Broad- 
nax, but surely it ees heavy to wear in sleep?” 

Irene made no reply other than a smiling 
good night as the maid finished her duties, and 
put out the lights while Irene’s curly brown 
head, sunk in a soft down pillow, was reviewing 
the evening that seemed to be merely a succes- 
sion of pictures of Colonel Yelverton, with 
slight change of detail and setting — ball-room 
— supper-room — conservatory — then dream- 
land. 

As Irene returned from the land of slumber 
next morning she lingerd in that mysterious 
province which lies between the walls of the 
City of Sleep proper and that commonplace 
country of the Wide-awake. Realizing that she 
had been thrust forth from the city, rather than 
wandered out of her own volition, she was gaz- 
ing back reproachfully at the high, broad gate 
with the branches of the ailantus tree shading 
it pleasantly, while along the walls grew tall, 
brilliant colored poppies, swaying languorously 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 169 

as the sweet scented zephyrs called them in low 
whispers. 

All at once Irene was overwhelmed with 
dread — what was it? Ah! there was a fearful 
creature twining itself about her arm as it hung 
by her side; she tried to throw it off, but the 
thing clung tenaciously; she thought she 
screamed, but she heard no sound come from her 
lips; with a mighty effort she flung the thing 
from her, and awoke, trembling, to find Marie 
kneeling on the floor beside the bed, with her 
hand to her face. 

“Wh-a-t’s the matter?” 

Irene sat up, asking the question, and, raising 
her hand to brush back the curls from her fore- 
head, she was amazed to find the bracelet upon 
her arm unclasped. Immediately she remem- 
bered the maid’s close scrutiny of it the night 
before while she praised its beauty. 

Marie had risen and was trying to appear 
unconcerned, attempting a rather uneasy little 
laugh as she still held her hand to her eyes. 

“Marie, come here.” 

Irene spoke quietly, but there was no mis- 
taking her displeasure. 

Marie approached the side of the bed. 


iyo THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“What were you doing, crouched down beside 
my bed?” 

With her mistress’s eyes regarding her with 
such disconcerting intentness the girl lied 
badly. 

“Oh, Mees Broadnax, it was that I come to 
awake you, an’ jes’ by ze bed I stoop to pick 
up zis hair-pin, so, and zen. Mademoiselle with 
her arm strike, so, an’ it hit me across ze eyes, 
thus; ah, there was a power in zat blow!” 

Marie permitted a few tears to strengthen 
her testimony, but Irene felt perfectly sure of 
what had occurred, and asked, unmoved: 

“You were stooping, with your head bent, 
and I struck you across the eyes? Marie, you 
must have been very close to me for that, and, 
as you evidently were very close, tell me what 
it means that I find this bracelet unfastened, 
a difficult clasp too, impossible to come undone 
without the use on one’s fingers.” 

“Ees — ze bracelet unfasten’?” 

Marie’s wide-open eyes looked greatly as- 
tonished, but her voice quavered as she asserted 
emphatically : 

“But, Mademoiselle, I know nothing of zat, 
I haf explain’ ze truth to Mademoiselle.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 171 

And hereupon she again covered her eyes, 
weeping a scanty supply of tears in proportion 
to the amount of energy she appeared to ex- 
pend. 

Irene was silent for a moment as she thought- 
fully reclasped the bracelet. Then, throwing 
about her the loose gown that hung over the 
chair at the head of the bed, she got up, and 
walking over to the maid laid a firm hand upon 
her shoulder as she said: 

“Look here, Marie, I know quite as well as 
if you had told me, that you were trying to take 
my bracelet from my arm when I struck out at 
you. Now what I wish to know is, why did 
you want it?” 

Marie continued to sob as she replied: 

“But, Mees Broadnax, I haf say I deed not 
want eet, I — ” 

Irene gave the shoulder beneath her hand a 
slight shake as she insisted: 

“The truth, Marie; did some one send you 
for that, or were you taking it for yourself?” 

The maid was frightened, and answered with 
haste : 

“Eet was for me, myself; I beg Mademoi- 
selle will not be severe on me I” 


172 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“Nonsense,” Irene interrupted impatiently. 
“What in the world would you take a bracelet 
like this for, when there were handsome jewels 
handy on the dressing-table? Who sent you?” 

But though the girl cried, and mumbled sen- 
tences, Irene could get no further information 
from her. To send for the police would be 
absurd, for she felt that Marie was but a tool. 
Was she in Cragfels’s pay? Had he managed 
by money to remove the maid whom Irene had 
had since she came to Washington, putting this 
one in her place to steal for him the coveted 
jewel. She hardly knew what to do, but one 
thing was certain — Marie should leave imme- 
diately. Irene stated this fact curtly to the 
girl, who still dabbed at her reddened eyes. 

“You will get your belongings together, and 
go at once. No!” as Marie started to speak, 
“I don’t wish to hear any more, just go — go, 
quickly, and consider yourself mightly lucky to 
be allowed to go in any direction other than 
toward the police station!” 

That was sufficient; Marie left the room 
without more urging. 

As Irene dressed, her thoughts were crowd- 
ing one upon the other in such quick succession 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


173 


that they made but a confused impression. 
What a horrible dream, and what a disagree- 
able awakening I Marie was settled, but what 
was at the bottom of the deep well of mystery 
of which the gold bracelet seemed to form the 
circling top ? She slowly brushed out the 
long, curling brown hair. Colonel Yelverton 
would be here this morning; he had sent the 
completed picture yesterday, and would now 
come to know if it pleased her. She twisted 
one of the soft curls about her finger, resting 
the brush in her other hand on the dressing- 
table, while her violet eyes looked upward at 
the reflected bent head. 

“Irene,” she addressed the demurely smiling 
young person of the mirror, “you ought to be 
very angry with yourself, to allow a Yankee 
to defeat all your Southern prejudices and 
memories. I reckon you’re getting old and 
weak-minded, that’s about it.” 

The image smiled in provoking indifference. 

“Ugh!” Irene ejaculated, in disgust, “you’re 
so brazen and shameless that you’ll soon be let- 
ting the wretched man himself know I” As she 
turned from the glass her bright face clouded. 
She brushed and arranged the brown locks in 


174 the german bracelet 


a coil low on her neck, while her thoughts re- 
verted to the unpleasant episode of the bracelet. 

It had always been a matter of pride with 
her that she had never, even in the smallest de- 
gree, broken her promise, and it was only in 
accordance with this pride of custom that she 
refrained at this moment from unclasping the 
bracelet and flinging it from her. It had be- 
come absolutely repulsive to her, and she felt 
she had now a fresh proof of the German’s de- 
termination to obtain it, by fair means or foul; 
for she had not hesitated, in view of his past 
efforts in the same direction, to impute to Crag- 
fels the inspiration which had prompted 
Marie’s attempted theft. Mrs. Broadnax was 
more nervous than usual lately, and Irene gave 
her merely a scant synopsis of the trouble 
which had resulted in Marie’s dismissal. 

As she ate her breakfast abstractedly she 
tried to decide whether she should speak to her 
father about it, and when he rose from the 
table she started to follow him into his study, 
but, yielding to an impulse to procrastinate, she 
turned her steps instead toward the music-room., 
where she had left the portrait which Colonel 
Yelverton had sent the previous day. 


CHAPTER XIII 


Drawing aside the heavy curtains from one 
of the windows, Irene examined, with close 
scrutiny, the picture that rested against the 
back of the chair before her. It was a very 
good likeness, she thought, and certainly a very 
charming picture. 

It was done in oils, and Yelverton had very 
skilfully disposed the lights and softening 
shadows, while the gray-gowned figure, seated 
with an almost nymph-like airy grace upon the 
mossy boulder, was thrown into striking relief 
by the gorgeousness of the autum foliage that 
formed the background. 

It was after ten now. Colonel Yelverton 
would be there in the course of an hour, and 
Irene took up a book to read till he should 
come. 

She was not one of those people whose sole 
use for a book seems to be to bridge over an 
intervening space of time, merely a convenient 
occupier of the idle moments which occur now 
and then in even the most strenuous existence. 
(175) 


176 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


No, Irene, though no bluestocking, was a lover 
of books for themselves; they were friends 
whose society she sought and valued; but there 
are times when we give very little real atten- 
tion to the voice of even the oldest and most 
congenial friends ; we answer their inquiries 
with an absently amiable smile, continuing the 
train of our own thoughts as we answer indif- 
ferently their sympathetic enthusiasm. It is not 
lack of love, it is merely the momentary su- 
premacy of the ego within us. 

As Irene still held the book, deluded into 
the belief that she was reading, she heard a step 
cross the hall, a step grown so very familiar 
that it seemed as if she must recognize it though 
the walls of sleep shut off her senses. As the 
firm, quick footfall reached the door of the 
music-room, Irene looked up, smiling a greet- 
ing to Colonel Yelverton as he entered the 
room. 

“They told me you were in here, so I thought 
I’d just steal a glimpse before you knew of my 
presence; sort of a fairy-tale ogre, devouring 
with his eyes the fair princess — but. Princess,” 
he said reprovingly, “you’ve such keen hearing, 
you don’t give a poor old ogre half a chance.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 177 

They were now seated, that is, Irene was, 
while Yelverton balanced himself on the arm 
of the chair that held the picture. 

“But, Mr. Ogre, you should put on your 
‘Silent Boots,’ or, at least, learn to walk more 
softly if you expect to approach unheard.” 

Irene leaned forward as she spoke, and her 
white hand rested on the frame of the picture, 
while her face was upturned toward Yelverton. 

“I don’t feel as if I were really doing quite 
the right thing in accepting this picture that has 
cost you weeks of work; indeed I don’t,” she 
repeated with that curious little rising inflection 
that unconsciously attracted the listener’s atten- 
tion with a hope that the musical voice would 
continue. 

“I have received full payment. in weeks of 
pleasure. You must keep it. If you refuse to 
accept such a trifle, how can I have the assur- 
ance to offer you the greater gift that holds 
within it my happiness?” 

Yelverton had covered the little hand upon 
the frame with one of his, and he now leaned 
toward Irene, his gray eyes dark with sup- 
pressed emotion, devouring every faultless line 
of the averted profile. He felt the hand within 


IZ 


178 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


his own grow suddenly cold, while the parted 
carmine lips trembled as the quick little breaths 
escaped them. 

All the passion of love that made his heart 
beat till it seemed it must batter down the 
bodily barriers; all the tenderness that had 
been fashioned from the smelting furnace of 
ideals; all the reverence and worship that the 
devotee offers to his idol; all this was strug- 
gling for expression, as Yelverton, his dark 
head bent close to the brown one, breathed one 
word: 

“Irene,” hesitatingly, as one joyous yet fear- 
ful; then, as one casting all fear to the winds, 
and only the joyous love remaining, “Irene, 
you — ” 

“Where are — oh, there you 'are! What’s 
that picture? Oh, you — beautiful! Mercy, 
Colonel Yelverton, I had no idea how fetching 
a gray gown could be; it’s that glorious back- 
ground of autumn colors that brings it out so, 
isn’t it?” 

“Er — ^yes; oh, yes!” Yelverton answered 
confusedly, consigning Miss Hardway and all 
her kin to a place he had never, in his mind, 
associated with women, 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 179 

Margaret had floated into the room with the 
breezy, welcome-taken-for-granted manner that 
was natural to her, and either did not perceive, 
or intentionally ignored, the manifest discom- 
posure of the two people who were presumably 
studying very carefully, and with close scrutiny, 
the picture between them. 

Yelverton felt he could not stand Margaret’s 
light chatter just then, and as soon as possible 
took his leave. He noted, with a feeling of 
exultation, that Irene’s color deepened and she 
did not seem displeased when he managed to 
convey a world of fervor in his parting hand- 
clasp. 

Irene moved over to the broad window-seat 
where Margaret had perched herself, and sat 
beside her friend, while the latter proceeded to 
pour into her ear various important items of 
interest to the butterfly. Irene smiled encour- 
agingly now and then, but her thoughts were 
elsewhere. She wanted to shut her ears to 
every ordinary sound, that she might again 
hear that word ^^Irene^^ spoken in a voice thrill- 
ing with love, softened with tenderness. 

Margaret was a bird of passage, and she had 
other flights to make, so before long she gath- 


i8o THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ered herself together with a series of little 
shakes to her skirt, and pats to her Parisian hat, 
and finally wound, with graceful skill, a filmy 
India scarf about her fair throat. 

“Farewell, Lady Buddhist; you have ap- 
parently ‘gone into the silence,’ and I won’t 
suffer my frivolity to tempt you from it. Seen 
my handsome cousin lately? No? Mutual 
misfortune, dearie; au revoir! Oh; did I tell 
you, Ching-Ching has bronchitis — I’m so wor- 
ried! No, I haven’t a nurse for him yet. 
Good-by I” 

Irene watched her friend depart with a feel- 
ing of relief — she must think, and she wanted 
to be alone. Scarcely had she curled herself up 
in the chair opposite the picture, to indulge in 
a day-dream, when her father entered the room. 

Spying the comfortable position of his 
daughter, the old gentleman chuckled quietly 
to himself, asking: 

“Well, how do you like yourself best, on 
canvas, or in that chair? You must have been 
a cat in your previous incarnation, you have 
such a feline capacity for looking comfortable; 
are you sure you are not purring ever there?” 

Irene smiled up at him as she blinked her 


THE GERMAN BRACELET i8i 


eyes cat-fashion. “No, but I will, if you’ll 
come sit beside me, like a nice old Dad.” 

^he stretched out her arm and caught the 
skirt of his coat, pulling him toward her. She 
and her father were the best of chums. 

“My dear child. I’m too old and sedate a 
person to poise my dignity with any degree of 
safety on such a precarious pedestal,” he pro- 
tested, while Irene laughingly drew him down 
on the arm of her chair. 

“Irene, you disrespectful young person. I’ll 
square accounts with you this time — I’m going 
away! Yes, madam, away/^ as Irene’s eyes 
opened wide in surprise. “Away from your 
tormenting, and disrespect for age — on a busi- 
ness trip,” he concluded. 

Irene’s expression had changed to thoughtful 
gravity; should she tell her father of Cragfels’s 
determined efforts to secure what he claimed to 
be his own? 

“Going to be gone long. Dad?” she ques- 
tioned, rubbing her cheek against his coat 
sleeve. “Tisn’t good for me not to have you 
to torment.” She rummaged in his pocket, 
and finally drew out a bit of foil-covered choco- 
late. As far back as she could remember she 


i 82 the german bracelet 


had always found a piece a chocolate in Dad’s 
coat pocket. As she nibbled at this piece, the 
smiles again on her lips and in the mysterious 
violet depths of her eyes, she repeated her ques- 
tion: 

“\^hen are you coming back?” hoping it 
would be soon. 

“I can’t just tell, that’s the trouble. I’m 
selected to go on a sort of voyage of discovery 
to the wilderness of Virginia, and the time, 
et cetera, depends entirely on how soon I col- 
lect the required statistics. It won’t be any 
longer than necessity demands, I can promise 
you.’' 

They talked awhile, and then Mr. Broadnax 
rose, saying he was leaving the first thing in 
the morning, and wished to make some arrange- 
ments before his departure. Irene decided, 
after considerable thought, to write to Stanley. 
Why had the idea not occurred to her before? 
There must be something connected with the 
bracelet; no matter what lofty fabrications 
Cragfels had erected, there was a feeling of 
conviction in her heart that there was some ver- 
itable foundation on which he had built them. 
Here the first censuring thought that Irene had 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 183 

ever known, in connection with Stanley, crossed 
her mind, as she said to herself: 

“Stanley should have told me enough of his 
trouble with Otto Cragfels to put me on my 
guard. He must have meant to deceive me in 
pretending not to recognize his enemy from my 
accurate description.” One deception, no mat- 
ter how trivial, weakens immeasurably that 
powerful bulwark of trust, and Irene was ex- 
periencing the disagreeable sensation of being 
obliged to open her mental eyes to behold an 
unlovely and disillusioning spectacle. After 
she had mailed the letter she felt more satisfied, 
and idly wondered what had become of Marie. 
Had she been an unseen observer as that young 
woman was admitted to Cragfels’s apartment 
she would hardly have felt so secure. 

Marie had hastened to Cragfels’s rooms and 
had been immediately admitted by the queer 
Russian man whom fancy had inspired Crag- 
fels to have as general factotum. Cragfels was 
reading as Marie was shown in — a ponderous 
volume bound in clingy brown. The French- 
woman shivered as she glanced about the dull, 
somber room. 

“Ach! it is you,” 


1 84 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Cragfels sat erect and closed his book, while 
his eyes gazed at the woman with steadfast in- 
quiry. 

“Mais oui, Monsieur, eet ees me; I haf to 
tell Monsieur zat what he desire of me was 
eempossible to do. I haf try, and Mademoi- 
selle haf give me a blow, thus, upon my eyes, 
as she feel in sleep sat zee bracelet is unclasp’. 
I am deeschar gel” 

With a dramatic gesture Marie finished her 
story, and waited for the German’s words. 

“Der Teufel!” the latter exclaimed, in angry 
guttural accents. “Did you suppose, then, it 
was for this that I gave to you gold? For you 
to make of this affair a — a — ” 

His clayey skin took on a dull, brickish hue, 
as he left unfinished his expression of wrath. 
His eyes glared at Marie from under the bushy 
brows till that young woman shifted her posi- 
tion uneasily to get out of their range. 

“Did you tell her who sent you?” Cragfels 
asked presently. 

“Non, non! I have say nothing.” 

Marie walked a little closer to the man. 

“I deed say nothing,” she said, in a low 
voice, smooth as glass, “but eef Monsieur ees 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 185 

so angry with poor Marie who haf done her 
bes’, den, why should I not speak?” 

She had seen at once that Cragfels would not 
pay her the remainder of the promised money, 
as she had failed, and now determined to try 
for it, at least. 

Speak the German repeated. “Go, get 
out of this! You may speak. I pay you no 
more good money for silence, or anything. 
Go, get out of this 1 ” 

He stood up in his exasperation, and finally 
turned his back, stalking toward the window, 
while the crestfallen Marie made her way out 
of the room, down to the street, realizing at 
once that her chances in that direction were nil. 

Left to himself, Cragfels gnawed at his stiff 
mustache while he digested his chagrin. He 
had felt comparatively sure of obtaining the 
bracelet through this scheme. That stupid, 
clumsy, bungling Frenchwoman! 

That evening Cragfels went to call upon 
Mrs. Pannell. He had decided that this lady 
was the one to help him in this particular issue, 
and he doubted not her willingness, but rather 
his own tactful skill in broaching the subject. 

He had cultivated the acquaintance of the 


1 86 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


widow to an extent verging on intimacy. In 
his heart he knew she cared for him only as the 
cousin of the German Ambassador, but he 
hardly resented the fact, inasmuch as his own 
desire for her friendship was merely to aid him 
in furthering his own project. Having accom- 
plished several services of a social nature for the 
lady, Cragfels now felt that he was in a position 
to demand, with a show of consideration, some 
actual proof of her appreciation. Moreover, 
though not an acutely observant man, he had yet 
seen that Mrs. Panned was annoyed in no small 
degree to find the handsome Colonel Yelverton 
enjoying the society of a beautiful and younger 
woman. 

Conversational diplomacy was not Cragfels’s 
strong point, but he steered it to-night with a 
certain roundabout deftness into the desired 
channel. 

“You have known Colonel Yelverton for 
years, is it not?” he was asking the widow. 

He sat on the opposite side of the fireplace, 
and his eyes watched the glowing coals in the 
grate, not glancing at the woman, though she 
was worthy of admiring observation. 

She wore a black gown with the neck cut in 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 187 

round decollete, her glossy black hair piled high 
on her head, while the garnet-hued upholstery 
of her chair accentuated the clear whiteness of 
the graceful neck and patrician face with its 
cameo-like delicacy of outline. 

A lizard, composed of priceless emeralds, 
nestled in the laces of her corsage, seeming to 
live as the lace rose and fell with her breathing. 

As Cragfels spoke she raised one hand to 
smooth a single raven strand that had escaped 
the tortoise-shell pins, revealing as she did so 
the perfect symmetry of her arm, from which 
the wide elbow sleeve fell back. 

“Yes,” she replied musingly, “we have known 
each other in a way, for some time; my hus- 
band liked him. But he seems changed a good 
deal of late. I don’t think he ever liked me 
particularly; he’s a rather cold, reserved sort 
of person — but I suppose some woman will 
change all that.” 

She laughed, a short mirthless laugh, in 
which Cragfels caught the undertone of bitter- 
ness. 

“You are right, and I suppose there can be 
little question, now, as to whom the woman will 
be; I mean,” answering an alert, inquiring 


i88 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


glance of the widow, “that it is said there is 
something resembling an engagement between 
Colonel Yelverton and Miss Broadnax.” 

He crossed one knee over the other, and 
watched his vis-a-vis out of the corners of his 
slaty eyes. 

“Now, Mrs. Pannell,” he resumed, as that 
lady kept a guarded silence, “it is, as you say, 
the destiny of some woman to change from ice 
to fire the heart of Colonel Yelverton. Yes, 
but is this Miss Broadnax the woman, the right 
woman — that is the question!” 

He took up a curiously carved paper cutter 
from the table at his left, and toying with it 
abstractedly, continued, in the mildly specula- 
tive tone of one only indirectly interested in the 
result of his reflections. 

“That is the question,” he repeated. “For 
you, you are his friend, and would have his 
interests, his affairs at heart; for me — ” He 
paused momentarily, sitting up straight, and 
suddenly looking squarely into the widow’s at- 
tentive black eyes, as he said emphatically, “I 
would desire that Miss Broadnax do not 
marry, or be engaged to your friend. Colonel 
Yelverton.” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 189 
“Ahl’» 

The single, comprehensive interjection fell 
from Mrs. Pannell’s lips, while the glistening 
green lizard seemed to writhe among the laces 
that rose and fell in short breaths. With her 
big black eyes flashing comprehension at him, 
Cragfels concluded: 

“It would seem to me that if you were to 
consider, as I do, that Miss Broadnax is not 
the proper ^* — he dwelt on the word^ — “wife 
for Colonel Yelverton, we might, perhaps, ac- 
complish the breaking off of this unsuitable at- 
tachment. No doubt you could point out to 
your friend some circumstance which would 
rouse his jealousy; while I, on the other hand, 
can strengthen the rumors which, even now, 
are circulating, to the detriment of the Broad- 
nax family, showing it to be an undesirable 
alliance from the standpoint of family pride. 
Would you feel inclined, Mrs. Panned, to as- 
sist me in this to the benefit of your friend?” 

Cragfels leaned back in his chair, his broad 
lids half closed over the observant eyes. 

The widow sat quite still, her beautiful long 
hands clasped tightly upon her lap, her great 
black eyes looking steadfastly into the burning 


190 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

coals in the grate while she debated within her- 
self. If she agreed she gave up the secret of 
her wild love for Horace Yelverton; on the 
other hand, if she refused to co-operate with the 
German in this scheme, she lost the man she 
loved, lost him irretrievably; for she had heard 
the same reports of an imminent engagement, 
bo then, let the man beside her know the truth; 
she would make one last effort to win Yelver- 
ton. She lifted her head in quick decision, and 
her eyes met Cragfels’s unwaveringly as she 
answered : 

“I will assist you — for my friend’s sake.” 

“It will be what you call a mutual benefit 
association, is it not?” Cragfels returned with 
a clumsy attempt at jocularity. 

The widow assented smilingly, and thus the 
subject was dropped. But Cragfels, as he 
walked homeward in the clear moonlight, con- 
gratulated himself on his cleverness, and felt 
his evening had been well spent. 


CHAPTER XIV 


Meanwhile, Irene possessed her soul in such 
semblance of patience as was possible. She had 
been out twice when Colonel Yelverton had 
called, and she had just missed seeing him at 
various social functions which each had at- 
tended. She had for the last two or three days 
kept rather closely at home, hoping he would 
call, but at last she grew impatient; craving the 
out-door exercise to which she was accustomed 
from her plantation life, she decided to drag 
Margaret out for a walk. 

When she reached the Hardway’s house, 
Mrs. Hardway herself was standing in the hall, 
her hands filled with pieces of broken china. 
She looked so utterly dismal that Irene won- 
dered greatly, and asked immediately what the 
trouble was. 

“Merely that Margaret’s Ching-Ching got 
into a passion and tore down the cover from 
that small table, bringing with it my choicest 
bit of Dresden — that’s all!” 

Irene tried to look properly distressed, but 
(191) 


192 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Mrs. Hardway’s patient despair was almost 
too much for her. 

“Where’s Margaret now?” she asked. 

“In there.” Mrs. Hardway indicated the 
conservatory with one of her odd gestures, that 
always reminded Irene of the figures of an 
Egyptian frieze, and thither the latter turned 
her steps. She found Margaret assuring the 
Angora that Dresden vases were a mere baga- 
telle, and not to mind what they said about him. 

“Margaret, leave that silk thing alone, and 
come for a walk — there’s an angel!” 

“I quite realize my angelic nature, Dixie, 
but the point that troubles me is, to what class 
do I belong. There are nine different species 
of angels, I am told, in heaven alone, and gra- 
cious only knows about Beelzebub’s country, so 
you see that is a very wide term. Yes, yes, I’m 
coming, directly.” 

They had returned to the square hall, and 
Margaret donned hastily a hat and wrap con- 
veniently left on one of the straight-backed 
chairs. 

“What a perfectly gorgeous afternoon,” 
Margaret exclaimed as they turned their steps 
toward the country. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


193 


It was truly delightful; the snow, which had 
but lately whitened the ground and trees, had 
melted and disappeared, and the straight tall 
trees loomed bare and unadorned, their 
branches not even swaying, so still and clear 
was the day, while the winter’s sun served to 
brighten though not to warm the frosty atmos- 
phere. 

The two girls were good walkers, and Irene 
was content to let Margaret babble on, joining 
in at times with some mention of a mutual rem- 
iniscence which would appeal to the risibilities 
of both, serving as a stimulus for fresh efforts 
on Margaret’s part. But in the main Irene was 
thoughtful. No letter had arrived from 
Stanley, and her father had not returned. She 
had studiously avoided Cragfels, but as they 
were in practically the same social circle such 
marked avoidance was becoming decidedly irk- 
some. The German had evidently not even in- 
timated to Margaret that there was a difference 
between him and the Broadnax family. If she 
did not hear from Stanley very soon she would 
endeavor to extract a little information from 
Cragfels, providing an opportunity presented, 
to find out something more definite about his 


13 


194 the german bracelet 

intentions regarding the bracelet. Hitherto, 
pride had restrained her from permitting Crag- 
fels to explain, as he expressed it, but of late 
she had been conscious of an uneasy premoni- 
tory anxiety, a feeling of impending trouble, 
that so took possession of her that she deter- 
mined to elicit what information she could from 
the clay-faced German. 

It was at this point in her cogitations that 
Margaret observed to her in a voice of unusual 
seriousness : 

“Do you know, Irene, I fancy that Stanley 
must have some enemy”; and as Irene looked 
around inquiringly, she continued, nodding her 
blond head wisely. “Yes, I do, indeed; you 
people, as is always so in such cases, would be 
the last to hear of it, but there are all sorts of 
absurd rumors circulating concerning his sudden 
departure, and — other things.” 

“How do you know this?” Irene questioned 
in an even voice. ,, 

“Gossip, Dixie.” 

Margaret arched her brows, and with a 
shrug of her graceful shoulders threw all re- 
sponsibility lightly from her. 

“Some of the girls’ brothers have gotten it 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 195 

at the clubs, some of the old society hens that 
keep close tab on us chickens. — Oh, you know 
how easy it is for a person merely to drop a 
hint, a half suggestion here, to insinuate care- 
lessly there, to throw a veil of mystery over a 
perfectly commonplace question.” 

She looked at Irene, and noting her set face 
with the violet eyes turned steadfastly toward 
the line of the horizon, she hastened to add, 
with earnestness: 

“I told you, dear, because I feel you should 
know; but still, I don’t think you need feel too 
anxious about it; it will probably all blow 
over. Just be on your guard against the hens, 
that’s all!” 

She laughed lightly, putting her arm through 
Irene’s while she added in vehement indigna- 
tion : 

“Well, whoever finds amusement in such a 
pastime must be utterly depraved, cowardly, 
and ought to be hounded out of all decent so- 
ciety! Dem’s ma sentiments!” she concluded 
with convincing vigor. 

Irene suppressed a smile; the irony of her 
friend’s wholesale denunciation of Stanley’s 
detractor appealed to her sense of humor; for 


196 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


she did not hesitate a moment to ascribe the 
rumors to Cragfels’s ingenuity. Matters were 
certainly progressing, and she was the more 
fully determined to give that gentleman ample 
opportunity to recite his grievance should he 
still be so inclined; he was actually undermin- 
ing her brother’s reputation in his sly, unscrupu- 
lous way. 

On their return to the city proper they were 
walking rapidly toward Irene’s home, when 
their attention was attracted by a slight distur- 
bance upon the street, caused by the shying of 
a large, high-stepping bay horse. 

“Irene, that’s Mrs. Pannell, and Cousin 
Otto with her. She’s a dashing widow, if 
ever there were one; seems to me those two 
must be kindred spirits, they are certainly be- 
coming great chums. I wonder what she sees 
in Otto. He’d better have a care, she’s a very 
clever lady.” 

The equipage had passed, with much flash- 
ing of harness and clatter of hoofs, the occu- 
pants smiling and bowing to the pedestrians. 

“There goes that scoundrel — my brother’s 
enemy!” Irene thought angrily. 

“There’s that scheming little minx that is 


The german bracelet 191 

winning the heart that should love me!” Mrs. 
Pannell muttered savagly between set teeth. 

Irene’s desired opportunity came the night 
of the Vaughn’s dance, and she embraced it 
with as much dignity as her intense dislike for 
the man, and equal distaste for the act, allowed 
her to assume. 

Without Cragfels knowing her mischievous 
intention, Margaret had, during one of the 
pauses between dances, turned his steps toward 
Irene, whom she had spied on the opposite side 
of the room, and when he saw Irene it was too 
late to do aught but protest indirectly that he 
did not admire Miss Broadnax. 

“Nonsense,” Margaret retorted, “come 
along, you can’t leave me stranded here on the 
floor; and, besides, it will be very improving 
for you to know such an altogether charming 
character as Irene.” 

She glanced sideways at her sulky cavalier, 
deriving much amusement from his annoyance. 

Irene strove to make her greeting to Cragfels 
a trifle less cold than her usual manner, and won- 
dered how she could bridge over the enmity be- 
tween herself and the man sufficiently long to 
enable her to acquire the desired information. 


i 98 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“What’s the reason you sat out the last 
dance, Irene?” Margaret asked. “Getting a 
bit stiff and decrepit, or have you decided to 
mend your frivolous ways ? Maybe you’ve real- 
ized, as that Mrs. Peebles, with the marvelous 
bang, says, that ‘the young people of this gen- 
eration are simply scandalous !’ ” She mimicked 
the quoted lady’s cracked voice to a nicety, win- 
ning an appreciative laugh from the group about 
her. 

“Irene, you’re not going to keep Guy tied to 
your side while that delicious waltz is luring all 
soulful beings to glide off, far — far — into the — 
Come on, Guy, she’s infirm, and Cousin Otto 
will persist in doing gymnastics on one corner of 
my train, so let’s leave them to reminiscence of 
the light of other days. 

As the young man beside Irene hesitated, 
looking questioningly at her, she laughed. 

“Oh, go away, and glide far, far into the — ” 
she answered. 

The young man advanced to Margaret’s side, 
and with a gesture of hopelessness cried : 

“I am as a craft tossed about by the veering 
wind of feminine caprice!” 

“Oh, Guy, brother of my soul,” Margaret 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 199 

exclaimed, as the two glided off, “you’re not 
half so crafty as you flatter yourself into believ- 
ing. rm the wily schemer. I’ve got the north- 
wind and the sirocco of the desert bound to- 
gether by convention’s chain.” She broke into 
ripples of wicked enjoyment as she explained 
to her old playmate the reason she had waltzed 
him away. 

“Let’s go back where we can see them,” she 
suggested. “What a regular monkey and par- 
rot time those antipathetic creatures must be 
having.” 

“As circumstances seem to have again forced 
upon each of us the other’s unwilling society,” 
Irene commenced in a neutral voice, “I would 
like to ask you why you committed the task of 
purloining my bracelet into the hands of such 
an unskillful person as Marie proved herself 
to be.” 

Somewhat taken aback by this direct on- 
slaught, Cragfels turned, in surprise, to Irene, 
but he replied with quiet deliberation : 

“You do not hesitate to charge me with the 
deed; I will answer with equal frankness. I 
did send Marie, and because I thought her more 


200 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


clever than the event has proved; but though 
she has shown herself incapable, yet be assured, 
I am not discouraged.” 

“You must be possessed of a very unusual 
degree of sentiment, to make you exert yourself 
so greatly for a mere bracelet, undeniably beau- 
tiful though it is.” 

She fingered the circlet upon her arm as she 
spoke, noting at the same time that her trivial 
action appeared to irritate the German to a 
marked degree. 

“Sentiment — ah I” 

Cragfels’s lips parted in the ugly smile that 
Irene disliked so intensely. 

“It is a deeper feeling than sentiment that 
has brought me across the Atlantic, Miss Broad- 
nax,” he continued with a steady, unrelenting 
note in his voice, that made Irene glance at his 
heavy countenance, with the long eyes that now 
looked fixed and expressionless straight before 
him. 

“It is the motive, the desire that makes a 
man smile as he views the suffering, the sorrow 
of others; that makes him use the belief, the 
trust of his friends as the paving-stones on which 
he treads ; that makes him close his senses 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 201 


against every perception that aids not his pur- 
pose; it is, Fraulein Broadnax, ambition!” 

“B-but, I can’t see the connection between 
this band of gold and your accusations against 
my brother, and ambition,” Irene objected, for 
the moment completely at sea. 

Cragfels looked at her, and she saw the dull, 
brickish hue mounting to his face as he answered 
with suppressed fury: 

“You cannot see? Well, it is thus: Your 
brother has balked my purpose by stealing that 
bracelet, and I am even now ruining his future 
for it; and you, as you have aided him, so also 
shall you pay your contribution to the debt of 
my satisfaction I” 

Irene shrank from the gleaming eyes and 
coarse mouth that uttered the revengeful threat 
with such cruel intensity. She hardly compre- 
hended the words, but the tone in which they 
were uttered and the repelling face bent toward 
her made a hideously vivid impression on her 
sensitive mind. She shielded her face with her 
fan, devoutly praying for Margaret’s return; 
she would rather not even ask the man beside 
her to take her to where she had left her mother. 

Several moments, that seemed like endless 


102 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ages in the unbroken silence, passed, and then 
with joyful relief she saw Margaret and Guy 
advancing toward them, laughing and uncon- 
cerned, satisfied with themselves and their 
mutual pleasure. 

“Merciful heavens!” exclaimed Margaret, 
her face expressing mock solemnity, “you two 
look as dismal and lugubrious as a couple of 
cemetery statues !” 

“Margaret, you’ll come to an untimely end; 
it’s only your protecting mantle of indifference 
that shields you from the scathing criticism that 
your mischief-loving nature deserves.” 

Irene spoke with light composure, but she had 
risen, and bidding Margaret an affectionate, and 
Cragfels a distantly courteous good night, told 
Guy that she and her mother were leaving early, 
and she would now find the latter and go im- 
mediately; she was tired, anyway, she added. 

Mrs. Broadnax was equally willing to de- 
part, and the two were soon cloaked, and put 
into their carriage by the faithful Guy, whose 
whole soul worship of Irene was a fact recog- 
nized and deplored by many mothers with 
marriageable daughters who had looked with 
marked favor upon the rising young barrister. 


CHAPTER XV 


Where was Colonel Yelverton? 

Irene asked herself the question as she leaned 
back in her corner of the carriage; she had not 
seen him once during the evening, and he surely 
must have been there. She felt disappointed 
and worried, and, yielding to the craving for 
sympathy, moved over close to her mother, rest- 
ing her head against the latter’s shoulder, and 
held tightly the soft, delicate hand that stroked 
the brown curls in maternal understanding. 

Poor Yelverton was no happier in spirit than 
was Irene. His was one of those noble, gener- 
ous natures that ascribe to others all their own 
good qualities. He was sensitive himself and 
was always most careful not to wound the sensi- 
bilities of others. Thus, an unscrupulous 
woman, as Mrs. Panned was upon occasion, 
could obtain a hold on him which a man of 
coarser fiber would not have permitted. 

In this instance Mrs. Panned had managed 
to capture him before Irene arrived, and having 
amused him for a little while, told him she had 

(203) 


104 the german bracelet 

had such a wretched headache, but was so ter- 
ribly lonely at home, that she had decided, at 
the last minute, to come to the dance. 

“You appeared like a kindly spirit on the 
scene of my desolation; really one might pre- 
scribe a dose of you as a certain cure for the 
most obstinate case of blues.” 

• Her dark eyes followed the lines of the well- 
shaped head; the dark hair above the wide, 
noble forehead, the straight nose, the full, 
chiseled lips and the determined chin and jaw; 
then they returned to the clear gray eyes that 
the large pupils made shadowy as they looked 
out upon the world in sincerity, in charity, and 
in fearlessness. The brows above them were 
heavy and dark, giving a somewhat command- 
ing expression, combined with the fine fore- 
head, to a countenance otherwise distinguished 
by handsome features and dark coloring. 

She had kept Yelverton beside her for the 
best part of the evening, determined that he 
should not stay longer with Irene than she could 
help. 

Yelverton did not like Mrs. Pannell, as she 
had truly surmised, but he had liked her de- 
ceased husband with the strong, admiring friend- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 205 

ship of a young man for one his senior, and as 
she now made a cleverly pathetic appeal to him 
for sympathy and amusement he found it impos- 
sible, as moment after moment passed, to desert 
her. Finally she suggested that they go into 
the adjoining room where couples were gliding 
in circles to the rhythm of a slow, sensuous 
waltz. Reaching the doorway they paused, 
and Mrs. Pannell touched her companion lightly 
on the arm as she said : 

“There’s Mr. Cragfels and that Miss Broad- 
nax.” 

“Where?” Yelverton questioned. 

“To the left, by that palm tree, do you see 
them?” The widow indicated the direction by 
a careless wave of her black spangled fan. She 
wore an empire gown of rich black velvet which 
admirably suited her peculiar type. The 
thought crossed her mind, what a fine looking 
couple she and the man beside her would make ! 
Yes, they were, beyond all question, intended 
for each other. 

“How absorbed they are in each other,” she 
was saying as Yelverton continued in silence to 
observe the couple. “Miss Broadnax seems in- 
tensely interested. Ah, a woman should never 


2o6 the german bracelet 


permit her face to so betray the depth of emo- 
tion a man has stirred — especially in full view 
of the public,” she added, with a light laugh. 

Horace Yelverton still maintained silence. 

The widow was, as Margaret had said, “a 
clever lady.” She had realized her opportunity, 
and had seized it unhesitatingly. 

Irene’s profile was turned to Cragfels, and its 
outline certainly expressed absorbed interest, 
while the German’s bent head was inclined 
toward his fair companion, the dull color in his 
face, combined with his suppressed vehemence 
of speech, tending to attach a deep significance 
to the conversation. 

As Mrs. Pannell stole a glance at Yelverton’s 
set face she felt that the seed of jealousy was 
sown, and its future strength and growth de- 
pended entirely on her careful tending. She 
soon decided to go home ; she felt so very much 
better, she declared, thanks to Colonel Yelver- 
ton’s humorous ministrations. 

As fate would have it, when he returned to 
the doorway, after seeing the widow to her car- 
riage, Irene had left Cragfels, and though he 
strove to find her, he just missed her, having the 
doubtful satisfaction of meeting Guy as he re- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


207 


turned to the hall after the Broadnax carriage 
had rolled away. 

“Yes, just gone; said she was tired,” that 
young man answered, in reply to Yelverton’s 
query. 

He stalked about aimlessly, his mind a prey 
to tormenting doubts. Why was Irene so inter- 
ested in the “mad German,” whom she always 
said she disliked intensely whenever he had 
chanced to speak of him, showing her distaste 
for the subject so plainly that he had refrained 
from even mentioning him. And here she was, 
not dancing, sitting in full view of every one in 
the room with the man whom she declared she 
detested ; not bored, either, but with that lovely 
bright face still, and expressing the deepest in- 
terest. Yelverton’s brows were knit in anxious 
thought. Reason which way he would, it was a 
queer situation, and without progressing farther 
toward a solution of the problem, he left the 
scene of gayety, walking home in an unhappy 
state of mind. 

As he gradually succumbed to the power of 
Morpheus he muttered to himself, while his 
thoughts still reverted to the man whom he had 
seen with Irene at the dance : 


2o8 the german bracelet 


“But, an)rway, I’ll bet you’re a scoundrel, and 
I have thought it ever since you were in the 
army.” 

He gave his pillow one vicious if sleepy 
thrust as he savagely apostrophized his foe: 

“Oh, Son of the Rhine, what wouldn’t I give 
to have the chance of a lunge at that ugly heart 
of yours, and send it back to the vile clay of 
which your countenance still bears the sem- 
blance !” 

There are times when it seems as if our over- 
tures to Fate were not only ignored, but cast 
back into our teeth with a smile of derision. 
Irene felt she had met with such a rebuff in 
her conversation with Otto Cragfels at the 
Vaughns’s dance. The only information she 
had gleaned was a conviction of the man’s re- 
lentless animosity to her brother, and, through 
him, to her. If she could only have unclasped 
the golden manacle and thrust it into his hands, 
asking as compensation that she be delivered 
forever from the sight of this burly Nemesis! 
But no, he was Stanley’s enemy, and she was 
bound by loyalty to her brother, and to the obli- 
gations imposed by her pledge to him, not to 
free herself from the bracelet’s loathsome touch. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 209 

She looked in vain for a letter from Stanley, 
and grew depressed as the days passed. 

Of Colonel Yelverton she had seen compara- 
tively little, and on the two occasions when they 
had conversed he had seemed a little different, 
somewhat constrained, she had fancied, so that 
she herself was ill at ease, and wondered if he 
too had heard the rumors of which Margaret 
had spoken. She wondered bitterly if he had 
repented his words and manner when they had 
talked, over the picture, at her house. 

Would such gossip as circled through the 
clubs, and the discourse of society’s scandal- 
mongers, have sufficed to quench the fervor of 
his regard for her? She found it impossible of 
belief, yet was at a loss to account for the slight, 
though to her painfully apparent, change in his 
demeanor. 

The consolation derived from the confiding 
of one’s troubles is frequently obtainable only 
in the lesser difficulties of everyday existence; 
through the great crises of life one must 
struggle unaided by the sympathy of even the 
closest friend. 

It was in such a position that Irene now found 
herself, and the inherent intolerence of youth. 


14 


210 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


demanding all the happiness and satisfaction of 
life, gave an added note of impatience to her 
forced inaction. She spent her days much as 
usual; she neither avoided customary pursuits, 
nor did she shut herself off from her friends, 
but her mind battled incessantly with a feeling 
of foreboding, and always was she on the alert 
to catch even the faintest echo of the reported 
rumors. She fancied that she had detected a 
shade of curiosity in the glance of a person 
here and there as she entered a room ; a 
subtle significance in various eager inquiries as to 
Stanley’s whereabouts. 

She would return from such an incident- 
marked afternoon with a feeling of baffled 
helplessness, wandering restlessly aT)out the 
house, from room to room, striving to fix her 
preoccupied mind upon a book or a favorite 
musical composition; but Stanley’s face would 
cover the printed words upon the page, till she 
closed it impatiently; and at the piano, Crag- 
fels’s guttural accents would banish the spirit 
of melody while her hands paused upon the 
unstruck keys. 


CHAPTER XVI 


After a day passed thus, Irene had one 
evening provided herself with a book, and, 
curled up in one of her feline positions, was en- 
deavoring to forget her personal troubles in fol- 
lowing the varied vicissitudes of the heroine. 
Suddenly she lowered her book and glanced 
round, fancying she had heard footsteps on the 
gravel path near the deep bay window. She 
felt a slight nervousness, for which she chid 
herself, but she could no longer concentrate her 
attention on the pages of her novel. 

As she watched the fantastic flames mount- 
ing from the logs in the fireplace her reverie 
was disturbed by a decided tap on the window 
to her left. With a start she turned toward 
the direction from which the sound came, and 
immediately it was repeated. 

Reassuring herself with the thought that it 
was probably merely a beggar, she rose, and 
crossed the room. She could see, dimly out- 
lined, the form of a man without, and she asked 
through the closed window : 

(211) 


212 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


“What do you want?” 

The man now approached close to the win- 
dow out of the protecting shadows, and as the 
light shone upon his face Irene exclaimed in 
consternation, even as she unlocked and raised 
the sash : 

“Stanley! What in the world? But, come 
in,” she interrupted herself. 

The young man vaulted lightly over the 
window-seat into the room, and kissing his 
sister, replied: 

“Yes, it’s I, sister; deuced cold night, too, 
to be prowling about like a professional house- 
breaker.” 

While Irene again closed the window, he ad- 
vanced toward the fireplace, warming his gloved 
hands at the cheerful blaze. 

“What made you come in such a professional 
house-breaking way?” Irene asked, half laugh- 
ing, as she followed her brother. 

She was mighty glad to see him, but she felt 
vaguely uneasy, too. 

“Er — well, the truth is — ” Stanley paused, 
turning, as if listening, and then resumed, in a 
low voice, “I’m in an infernal mess.” 

He seated himself in the chair opposite 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 213 

Irene’s, and glancing alternately at her, and at 
the closed library door, he continued: 

“I don’t care to have it known just now that 
I’m in town, and so I thought I'd avoid the ser- 
vants ; but every door and window appeared to 
be well fastened, so I thought I’d chance fright- 
ening you a bit in order to get a word alone 
with you. You wrote that the Governor was 
away; has he returned?” 

“No,” Irene answered. “Oh, Stanley, did 
you come back on acount of that letter of mine ? 
I am so glad!” 

Irene leaned forward eagerly, but Stanley 
looked uneasily toward the door as he hesitating- 
ly replied. 

“Not exactly; you see, it’s as I said. I’ve 
gotten into a peck of trouble — ” 

His voice was low, and one hand clutched 
the arm of his chair tightly. 

“I thought you’d probably be able to let me 
have a little money without my bothering Father 
about it. Er, the fact is. I’m in an awful hole, 
and I’ve got to have a few hundred mighty 
quick, or there’ll be the deuce to pay. Oh, I 
won’t try to explain it to you, little sister; I’m 
just across the fence from a beastly ugly gang. 


214 the german bracelet 


that’s all. Could you let me have the money 
now.” 

Stanley’s clothes were not as neat as of old, 
and a two days’ growth of beard gave him an 
unkempt appearance that made him seem a dif- 
ferent man from the brother Irene had admired 
so extravagantly. 

“I am awfully sorry, Stanley dear,” she 
hastened to say. “Of course you should have 
the money in a minute, but I haven’t any amount 
in the house. I can get you about five hundred, 
if that will be enough, by to-morrow. Will 
that do?” 

“Yes, that’s all right; and, Irene, you’re a 
treasure I” 

He beamed upon his sister, and the worried 
look grew less noticeable. 

“I’m only too glad to help you, you know 
that, Stanley; but I am in a very difficult posi- 
tion myself.” 

Her brows were knit anxiously, and she con- 
tinued, in light excitement, as Stanley looked at 
her questioningly : 

“That mysterious German, of whom I have 
told you, is no other than Mr. Cragsfels, who, 
you say, wronged you. I cannot understand 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 215 

how you could fail to recognize him from my 
description.” 

She paused, and Stanley feigned surprise, so 
she went on : 

“Yes, and, moreover, he claims he could 
settle the difficulty if he could see you, but is 
now apparently determined to be revenged on 
you for what he calls balking his ambition and 
set purpose. He says he has sent for his proofs, 
and will now publicly disgrace you. And, there 
are strange rumors circulating through the 
clubs about you. What does it all mean?” 

Irene leaned forward, her hands clasped be- 
fore her, her troubled eyes striving to read her 
brother’s thoughts as his face resumed its ex- 
pression of worry and disquiet while her story 
continued. 

Stanley realized it was no time for delicate 
prevarications ; he must throw himself upon his 
sister’s mercy, and tell her the truth to such ex- 
tent as was to his advantage. He drew his chair 
a trifle nearer Irene’s, and not glancing up to 
her, replied: 

“It’s true, Irene, what he says — at least it’s 
very nearly true, — that infernal bracelet was 
his—” 


2i6 the german bracelet 


He paused. Of what use to rehearse all the 
incident of Mademoiselle Eunice’s part in the 
unlovely affair? No, it was not necessary; he 
would pass over that. 

“Yes?” 

He heard Irene’s voice prompting him; he 
pulled himself together ; she should get him out 
of this without knowing too much to his dis- 
credit. 

“Irene, I was cheating at cards, and this man, 
to gratify a personal spite, had a noted shark 
there to catch me. I had been drinking a bit 
too heavily, and I didn’t know what I was do- 
ing, but Cragfels used all his influence to make 
Heidelberg too hot for me, and I had to get 
out; but before I went I got his precious old 
bracelet away from him, determined that the 
sweetness of his revenge should have in it one 
bitter drop. I don’t know why he worships the 
thing so, but evidently he has a very solid 
foundation for his feeling.” 

Stanley rose, and walked softly about the 
room. 

Irene, dazed with the ugly recitation, her 
mind overwhelmed with the thought of Stan- 
ley’s perfidy, sat staring wide-eyed into the 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 217 

smoldering embers upon the hearth. She was 
too shocked to note the incompleteness of her 
brother’s mention of obtaining the bracelet. It 
was the horror of Stanley’s behavior, and his 
cool manner of speaking of it, that stunned her 
sensibilities. 

“The thing to do is — ” 

She heard Stanley’s low voice saying, as he 
paced nervously up and down the room. 

“The thing to do is to try to make peace with 
Cragfels; he wants the bracelet; well, give it 
to him, make up any story that will soothe him 
about me ; and anyway, by giving it to him, you 
can gauge his intentions.” 

He stopped beside Irene’s chair, resting his 
hand lightly on her shoulder. 

“You will do this for me, little sister? I’m 
an awful nuisance of a brother, am I not? Not 
much worth bothering about, I reckon; but it 
all rests with you, little girl, whether or not I’m 
expelled from the clubs and society in general. 
Will you save me, Irene?” 

Irene shrank beneath his touch, and the sound 
of his soft voice fanned into flame the smolder- 
ing anger within her. At once the loathsome 
thing upon her arm seemed to burn into her 


2i8 the german bracelet 


flesh like a circlet of fire; with cold, trembling 
fingers she unfastened its clasp, and held it 
toward Stanley as her anger found vent. 

“Take your gift, Stanley; I can’t conceive 
why you should have desired to humiliate me by 
presenting to me the badge of your dishonor!” 

She turned to Stanley, her eyes cold as stars 
with the heaven’s blue reflected in them, while 
Stanley noted, with apprehension, the whiteness 
of her lips and a certain quality in the sweet 
voice which he had never before heard. 

“Are you not satisfied to have smirched your 
own name, without making your family suffer 
for your deeds ? Oh I to think that you should 
have deceived me, told me one falsehood upon 
another, and been willing to use me as a foil for 
your cowardice!” 

She clenched her hands and turned from him, 
trying to quell the emotions of which she now 
knew him to be incapable of either feeling him- 
self or respecting in another. At last she forced 
herself to look upon this creature, this incarna- 
tion of selfishness, whom but a short time since 
she had revered as a paragon of excellence. 

Stanley met her forced gaze, and advancing 
to her side dropped gracefully upon one knee. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


219 


“Take it, Irene, please,” he begged, holding 
out the golden bracelet which she had thrust 
toward him. “Take it, sister, and help me, 
won’t you ? Don’t be so hard on me I” 

As Irene’s eyes continued to regard her 
brother the veil of illusion was rent within the 
sanctuary of her mind, and she was now able 
to see the inherent weakness in the handsome 
face before her. Perhaps he was not so much 
to blame after all; he was just a poor, weak 
creature, just as nature had fashioned him ! 

Stanley was quick to observe the slight melt- 
ing in his sister’s frozen gaze, and taking her 
cold little hand in his, clasped the bracelet upon 
the white wrist, asking : 

“You will save me, Irene dear?” 

The ghost of a wintry smile flitted across 
Irene’s lips as she answered : 

“Yes, Stanley; put on the manacle, I’m the 
slave of your dishonor, and I’ll save you and 
our name, if I can.” 

Stanley at that moment arrived at the postern 
gate of the noble castle of Gratitude; within 
its walls he never penetrated. 

“Irene, you are the best — ” 

But his sister interrupted him. 


220 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


^^Don^t, please don’t; just tell me what you 
want done.” 

“Well, first of all, I’ll come for the money 
to-morrow night; and then, the first chance you 
get, try to make Cragfels take his bracelet and 
let us alone. You know, better than I could tell 
you, how to pacify the old blockhead. Pay no 
attention to anything he says about me; he’s 
not veracity’s image himself.” 

“Can’t you stay here?” Irene asked as Stan- 
ley put on his overcoat and gloves. 

“No, not very well; I’m keeping a bit toward 
the shadows till I can dispatch that money. 
Well, good night; don’t fail to get that money, 
or I’ll be beyond all but the undertaker’s help I” 
And with this dismal jest he leaped over the 
window sill to the path outside. 


CHAPTER XVII 


Irene again locked the window, and then 
walked aimlessly about the room, touching an 
ornament here, smoothing a drapery there, un- 
conscious of the movements of her hands as her 
mind strove to take in the situati'on in its full 
significance. She was to beg for her brother’s 
reputation of Cragfels! That one fact stood 
out distinctly from the blurred chaos of her 
thoughts. What could she say to him? Sup- 
pose these rumors — alas ! perhaps these too 
true stories — were to reach the ears of her 
mother and father. How terrible would such 
a shock be to their pride ! How could she meet 
her friends? Margaret perhaps had hinted 
only half when she warned her that afternoon. 
And then a thought came, with the stunning 
vividness of lightning and with the fearfulness 
of the thunder crash. She put her hands to her 
head, while a low moan parted the trembling 
lips. Walking unsteadily to the couch, she 
threw herself down, her brown head buried in 
(221) 


222 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


the pillows, her form rigid and cold. This, 
then, was the reason of Colonel Yelverton’s 
sudden change; he had known the truth of the 
rumors ; Cragfels had been in his regiment dur- 
ing the war, and had perhaps, even at that time, 
started his stories. And she had stopped 
Colonel Yelverton by a chilling silence whenever 
he had chanced to speak of Cragfels. 

What had he heard that had been of sufficient 
weight to overbalance his esteem for her? Per- 
haps this terrible story of cheating, of her 
brother’s expulsion from Heidelberg society ! 
Her cheeks now burned with the scorching flush 
of shame that her brother was incapable himself 
of feeling. Of course Colonel Yelverton could 
care nothing for her now. Perhaps he had 
heard the story of the bracelet just lately, and 
supposed she was wearing it, conscious of its 
history. How he must despise her! 

At this intolerable thought the slender body 
shook with sobs, while the hot tears of humilia- 
tion stung her cheeks and stained the soft 
cushions in which her face was buried. How 
long she remained thus she did not know, but as 
the chill of advanced night struck upon her 
numbed body she rose, and wretched, mentally 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 223 

and physically, dragged her weary limbs up 
stairs to her room and to bed, sinking into a 
heavy, dreamless sleep. 

She rose the following morning, pale and 
heavy-eyed, and as her new maid fastened her 
dark blue morning-gown she looked but a 
shadow of her usual bright, vivacious self. 

In answer to her mother’s anxious inquiries 
at breakfast she confessed to a disagreeable 
headache and a feeling of nervous depression; 
she would go out for a walk later, and that 
would be sufficient remedy, she assured her. 

She took her mail to the library, and 
answered, one by one, the various notes and in- 
vitations which required immediate attention. 
As she consulted her engagement book she noted 
the date of the ball to be given at the German 
Ambassador’s, at which place she relied upon 
meeting Otto Cragfels. She had not quite real- 
ized how near the time was, Thursday, and this 
was Wednesday — just one day of grace before 
she must approach the German and use her 
powers of persuasion to deter him from accom- 
plishing her brother’s social ruin. 

She leaned her head on her hand and her 
thoughts turned to Colonel Yelverton; he would 


224 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


be there too, probably, but that fact should cease 
to interest her now. The delicate white lids 
drooped over the troubled eyes, and she allowed 
her memory to call up incidents, situations, con- 
versations, various tones of voice, and gestures 
that were indelibly associated in her mind with 
Colonel Yelverton, her “Yankee conqueror,” as 
she called him. 

“Princess !” 

Irene started, half rising from her chair as 
she turned her head toward the door. Surely 
it was her overwrought imagination that had 
made her fancy she heard the voice of him who 
held possession of her thoughts. Was it a simi- 
lar delusion that brought before her eyes his 
image there in the doorway? 

“Did I frighten you? Pm sorry! That’s 
the way ogres always do; always spoil every- 
thing.” 

Irene passed her hand across her brow, and 
then advanced, while a smile, pathetic in its 
trembling joyousness, brightened the little white 
face as she realized it was a creature of flesh, 
and not a spiritual being whom she heard and 
saw. 

“I was a little startled,” she replied, as 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 225 

Colonel Yelverton took both her hands and 
looked down into the wistful blue eyes. 

He had tormented himself incessantly since 
Mrs. Panned had planted the seed of jealousy 
in his heart, with the thought that he had been 
mistaken in his estimate of Irene’s character. 
She was evidently not the sincere, high-minded 
girl he had deluded himself into believing, for 
she had spoken in one way of Cragfels and had 
acted in direct contradiction to her expressed 
sentiments. That was deceit, and deceit in a 
small matter implied a capacity for the same 
fault in affairs of greater consequence. 

At first he had avoided her; later, each time 
he had spoken with her, he had been in a mental 
conflict, and the bitter war waged between love 
and suspicion, urged on by the demon jealousy, 
had resulted in the constraint that had painfully 
surprised Irene. To the rumors concerning 
Stanley which he had heard he paid little heed, 
and had never connected them in his thoughts 
with Irene. He had finally yielded to love, and 
determined to thrust his doubts aside and ask 
Irene to marry him; if she consented it would 
then be his right to keep the German out of her 
path; and he had come now to beg of her the 


15 


226 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


happiness which she only had the power to 
bestow. 

Ascertaining from the servant the fact that 
Miss Broadnax was in the library, he had made 
his way thither, walking softly, and pausing be- 
tween the portieres to enjoy the picture of 
reverie that met his glance. As he now noted 
the tired whiteness of the sweet face a great 
wave of tenderness swept over his heart, carry- 
ing before it all meaner sentiments and emo- 
tions. 

“Did I interrupt anything very important in 
the way of literary achievements?’’ he queried 
as they crossed the room, Irene establishing her- 
self on the wide window-seat that circled round 
the bay window, and Colonel Yelverton sitting 
near her on a low ottoman. 

“Not particularly; the fact is, I was indulg- 
ing in an unprofitable day-dream when you 
waked me, and I wasn’t quite sure whether it 
was a real voice or a dream voice that I heard.” 
Irene laughed, a trifle nervously. 

Yelverton’s elbows rested upon his knees, his 
chin upon his clasped hands as he rejoined : 

“I’m afraid my harsh accents must have struck 
like a discordant crash across the spirit of your 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 227 

dreams. Would the sound of my voice in a day- 
dream seem too utterly impossible — would it, 
Princess?” 

Irene felt the blood creeping to her cheeks as 
she remembered how intimately the sounds of 
that same voice had been woven through her 
reverie. 

Yelverton’s voice had an almost boyish ring 
to it as he asked his question, and Irene won- 
dered what had made him resume the tone and 
manner of the days that now seemed years ago ; 
she dare not be serious, and she answered lightly 
as she held her head on one side and studied him 
critically : 

“You’re not exactly a purely spiritual type, 
but I dare say variety is an appreciated quality, 
even in day-dreams, so your presence might be 
accepted, on conditions.” 

Yelverton looked disappointed. 

“I don’t want my ‘presence accepted on con- 
ditions,’ ” he replied, in evident dissatisfaction; 
“I want to be the whole dream!” he announced 
with decision. 

“You are too modest,” Irene retorted sar- 
castically, feeling that her companion was seri- 
ous beyond the significance of his words. “To 


228 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


be so particular about even a dream — I declare, 
it’s fastidiousness gone mad!” 

“There are just a few things that I’m very- 
particular about, and that is one. Shakespeare 
says we are such things as dreams are made of, 
and I’ll go a bit a farther and say that some 
people are delightful dreams, and others are 
like awful nightmares; to the first we are glad 
to go, but we pray to be delivered from the lat- 
ter. I come to you — ” 

Yelverton was speaking in a low, quick voice, 
but now he hesitated, and Irene, unable to mis- 
take longer his determined seriousness, averted 
her head, while her hand twisted nervously the 
tassel on one of the cushions beside her. 

Yelverton took the other hand in both his 
own, and as neither words nor action met with 
the least response from the white, averted face, 
or the trembling little hand, he rose and seated 
himself beside her on the window-seat, still re- 
taining the unresponsive hand as he said slowly, 
haltingly : 

“I come to you — ^you. Princess; you are my 
dream of happiness 1” 

His face was close beside the cheek that 
looked as pure and cold as marble, so close that 


the german bracelet 229 

one little golden-brown ringlet touched his fore- 
head. 

“Irene, dearest little Princess, I may have 
my dream, my dream of happiness?” 

He raised the hand within his own to his lips, 
and his other arm crept hesitatingly yet daringly 
about the slender form turned from him. 

But the touch of his burning lips upon her 
hand and his arm about her suddenly roused 
Irene from the stupor that seemed to envelop 
her. She pulled her hand away, and all at once 
her numbed mind throbbed with the agonizing 
thought, “He is asking me to marry him be- 
cause he feels he has led me to expect it; it is 
his idea of honor; he is acting it all — ” 

“No, no!” she cried, her dry lips close to his 
bent head as he still held her. “I know, I know 
what you think, and — ” 

She stopped. He was drawing her closer, 
breathing words of passionate intensity into her 
ear. 

“Irene, my darling, you know nothing; I 
love you, love you till the least expression of its 
intensity exceeds the power of speech. Don’t 
you love me a little?” 

“No, no; oh, you don’t understand! You 


230 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

pity me^ — how can — ” If she met those eyes 
she was lost; she could feel them burning down 
deep into her very soul. 

“You do love me!” he cried, his eyes devour- 
ing her with a sort of fierce hunger. “You do 
love me, you shall not go; look at me!” and 
his hand beneath her chin lifted her face, and 
as her eyes, drawn by the magnetism of his, 
looked up, she shivered, and closed them quickly, 
but she was lost. Unresisting, he crushed her to 
him, till the wild pulse of his heart deadened 
the throbbing of her own, and upon her lips 
the scorching, lingering kisses burnt like live 
coals from the raging furnace of his love. 

It was to her as if there were no existence be- 
yond the circling arms that strained her to him, 
to that heart that throbbed so tumultuously. 
With a mighty effort she collected the scattered 
forces of her will, and pressing him back with a 
protesting white hand raised her head, and freed 
herself from his arms, burying her flushed face 
In her hands as she murmured brokenly . 

“Oh ! how weak I am, how miserably weak!” 

“No, no, simply adorable,” Yelverton Inter- 
posed In low, soothing tones. “Tell me you do 
love me, say you do, Irene darling — ” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 231 

But Irene rose hurriedly, facing him, while 
the warm blood mantled her fair cheeks as she 
said brokenly, striving for composure: 

“I, — you don’t understand, you, — Oh,” in 
desperation, “I can’t explain, — Mr. Cragfels, — 

I know you have heard 1 am only worthy 

to be despised; but please, oh, please forget 
this!” 

The blinding tears were dimming the violet 
eyes, and the hot drops fell upon her hands 
clenched before her as the almost incoherent 
words stumbled from her lips. 

Yelverton advanced to her, and placing his 
hands upon her shoulders, said in a gentle, sur- 
prised voice : 

“I don’t quite understand you, Irene; I love 
you” — his voice broke, and then he continued 
more firmly, “and you love me, as you have 
proven, even if you won’t say so — ” 

“No, oh, no!” 

Irene shook her head and turned from him. 

“You must go away, and forget this.” 

“I’ll not do any such thing,” Yelverton inter- 
rupted with decision, and endeavored to take 
her hand, saying gently : 


232 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“Tell me, little Princess, what it is that dis- 
tresses you; trust me, Irene, dearest — ” 

But Irene, with a low sob, shook off his hand 
and fled from the room, leaving him gazing 
after her in consternation. 

He walked slowly to the hall, and putting on 
his coat and gloves absently took his hat and 
cane and left the house, still feeling as if he were 
walking in his sleep. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


As Irene fled from the library, — fled as if it 
were from some demon, instead of from the 
man she loved, that she was seeking to escape — 
her maid met her at the staircase with a tele- 
gram, saying it had just arrived. Crushing the 
yellow envelope in her hand, she ran up the 
steps, unheeding the maid’s query as to an 
answer. With the door of her own room closed 
and locked behind her she seemed to breathe at 
last, and as she realized that she was alone, be- 
yond the luringly passionate masculine voice, 
far out of reach of those arms, and the tender, 
compelling eyes, she was suddenly seized with 
a wild desire to see him again — him from whom 
she had just fled with such precipitate haste. 

Had he gone? She looked out of the win- 
dow to the street below. Ah! that was the 
heavy front door closing ; yes, there he de- 
scended the steps, and walked slowly up the 
street, never once casting so much as a back- 
ward glance toward the house. She bowed ]ier 
head on her arm against the casement, and 
(233) 


234 the german bracelet 

sobbed, yielding to the wave of desolation that 
seemed to drown every joy and pleasure that 
she had ever known. 

Colonel Yelverton was gone; she had sent 
him away. She had not even been strong 
enough to deserve his respect, but had weakly 
succumbed to his protestations of love. She 
had declared to herself, at first, that he was 
merely acting the part that his strict sense of 
honor dictated, and then, realizing it was not 
pity, but love itself, that prompted him, she 
had not been strong-minded enough to refuse 
to hear or respond to the declarations of his 
devotion. What right had she to accept the 
love of any honorable man while the sword of 
social disgrace was hanging over her family, 
suspended by the slender thread of Cragfels’s 
uncertain intentions ? 

Exhausted, she sank into a low chair, and re- 
membered the telegram still clutched in her 
hand. She smoothed it out carefully and read: 

Expect to return Thursday morning. Father. 

She brushed the creased sheet against her 
tear-stained cheek, deriving an indefinable com- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 23^ 

fort from the caress. It reminded her of Dad’s 
coat sleeve, against which she had sought and 
found consolation in many a childish trouble. 
Those were the days on the plantation when she 
and Stanley — but the thought of her brother 
roused her to a realization of the immediate 
present. She must get the money for him. 

She rang, and ordered the carriage, and then 
hastily donned a street dress. 

As she entered the carriage, directing the 
coachman to drive first to the bank, she thought 
with dread of the ball the following night, 
where she should approach Cragfels on behalf 
of her brother. She did not notice a coupe 
which passed her, nor was she conscious of a 
pair of slaty eyes that gleamed at her, while a 
gentle smile of satisfaction rested upon the wide 
lips of the occupant of the hired conveyance. 

“Ach! your head is held proud, my charm- 
ing Fraulein ; but I would warn you that ‘pride 
goeth before a fall.’ ” 

He pressed his square, gloved hands together 
meditatively, measuring the tips of his fingers 
together as he checked off his satisfactorily ac- 
complished deeds. He had in his desk drawer 
at home a letter from the Countess Geyelin, 


236 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

which was a concise synopsis of the cheating 
episode and subsequent fray at her house, as 
also the opinion of Heidelberg’s social leaders 
concerning Herr Broadnax’s conduct. Then he 
had a paper written by Herr Erkstein, giving a 
short account of the affair, and his opinion on 
the subject, while below his signature were those 
of the most prominent men in the room when it 
occurred. In addition, he had Mrs. Pannell’s 
assurance that she had sown the seed of discord 
on fruitful ground, and Yelverton’s suspicious 
jealousy would not be inclined to seek the bonds 
of an engagement; that would accomplish the 
punishment of Stanley’s sister. Above and be- 
yond all, he was now going to meet the fair 
Mademoiselle Eunice, who would prove that 
the bracelet was his, Cragfels’s, and that Stan- 
ley had obtained it from her under false pre- 
tenses. 

Exactly what device Broadnax had used in 
order to secure it, Cragfels had never quite un- 
derstood; but when Mademoiselle Eunice had 
signified her willingness to share his future she 
had intimated that she could assist him materi- 
ally in securing his treasure. He had now 
sent for her, and assuring her that the recovery 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


237 


of his bracelet would enable him to marry her 
at once, the astute Frenchwoman had hastened 
to the aid of her adored Otto. 

As Cragfels stepped from the coupe to the 
station platform he looked at his watch, and 
quickened his steps; the train from New York 
was due in less than two minutes. He walked 
restlessly the length of the platform, noted idly 
the people standing in groups, wondered un- 
easily if she could have missed the train, looked 
at the clock above the gate, and then heard the 
guard call out the arrival of the New York 
train, with a quickening of his deliberate heart- 
beats. 

He was about to see the woman whom some- 
thing within him claimed as his mate, from 
whom an ocean had separated him for many 
long months — months of unsuccessful scheming 
and bitterness; now his clever enchantress was 
bringing to him the proof which would enable 
him to recover his possession. 

He scrutinized each person as the crowd 
pressed through the gate, his hands cold with 
nervous suspense. 

Suddenly his countenance brightened — he 
could never mistake that winsome face, no mat- 


238 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ter how great the surrounding crowd that 
framed its blonde loveliness! He strode for- 
ward, his face beaming, almost overturning a 
basket-laden urchin as his long, eager strides 
carried him toward the petite figure in dark 
brown that advanced gracefully, a porter behind 
her carrying rugs and portmanteaus. 

“Lieber Gott, how good it is to see you 
again!” Cragfels cried, grasping both the tiny 
gloved hands, while the peculiar brickish color 
mounted to his face. 

Mademoiselle laughed, a merry, childish 
ripple of amusement, as Cragfels directed the 
porter to collect the other luggage and take it 
down to his carriage. 

“Mon cher Otto,” Mademoiselle was bab- 
bling in her silvery tones, “you loomed up on 
the horizon like a veritable Gibraltar as I was 
being tossed about by these human waves. I 
have so great a dislike to solitary travel; I 
have sighed for you, ah, but so often!” Crag- 
fels’s heart thumped ponderously against his 
heavy frame as Mademoiselle spoke, but he 
would not try to express his feelings in words, 
which were always troublesome to him, so he 
conducted his fair charge to the carriage in 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


239 


silence, and as they drove to the apartments 
which he had selected for her he answered in 
monosyllables her numerous inquiries and com- 
ments. 

“That stupid creature, my maid,” she com- 
plained, “as if I had not distress sufficient, but 
she must lose her way from the shop in New 
York, and of a consequence miss the train; 
what shall I do? She cannot arrive for two 
hours, you say?” 

Cragfels pacified her, and assured her that he 
would rescue the missing attendant. 

Arrived at the cosy apartment, they found 
everything in readiness for the new occupant, 
and as the American domestic brought in an in- 
viting tea-tray and placed it upon the table, 
where a huge bunch of roses breathed a fra- 
grant welcome. Mademoiselle chirped her satis- 
faction into Cragfels’s ear. 

“My Otto, how can I tell you the delight this 
charming abode gives me? These roses, ah, 
mon Dieu, elles sont parfait! And all this 
thought and care you have taken — for me; you 
are bienveillance itself, mon ami ! But, you 
shall see; it is I who shall help you to recover 
your beautiful bracelet. Ma foi, it will truly be 


240 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

a joy to frustrate the wicked desires of that evil 
man — treacherous deceiver!” 

She clenched her sharp little teeth malevo- 
lently, and the baby-blue eyes were hard and un- 
forgiving. 

Stanley would hardly have enjoyed their 
expression. 

They discussed their plans for an hour or so, 
and then Cragfels left, declaring that Eunice 
must rest after her tiresome journey. 

Mademoiselle assured him that his society 
was more refreshing than any sleep, at the same 
time stifling a yawn. When Cragfels had gone 
the fair dissembler changed her traveling-gown 
for a delicate silk negligee, and disposed herself 
comfortably among the soft cushions upon the 
lounge, her fingers laced behind her head as it 
rested on the down pillows, her eyes following 
the intricate pattern of the paper upon the ceil- 
ing as her thoughts traced the windings of the 
thread that was weaving the web of Stanley’s 
humiliation. 

“You shall remember Eunice, my handsome 
Stanley, if not fondly, yet with a lasting mem- 
ory! You should not have deserted me so,” 
she cooed softly, while her lips straightened. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 241 

“You will find that it costs money, good Ameri- 
can dollars, to desert Mademoiselle Eunice, and 
you shall pay, yes — ” 

She clenched her small hand beneath her 
head, and her voice was thin and sharp as she 
repeated aloud : 

but you shall pay, in good American 

dollars.” 

She rose and walked about the room, inspect- 
ing various bits of bric-a-brac in idle curiosity. 
Reaching the table on which was placed the 
vase of roses she bent her golden head down 
among them, inhaling their sweetness; then 
with a gesture of dislike she brushed her hand 
roughly across their half-blown blossoms, tear- 
ing some of the petals as she did so, while she 
said bitterly: 

“Ah, Eunice, you must act with care, that 
your German bear bring you always roses; and 
you must forget the thorns they hide.” 

She turned from the table, and caught sight 
of her reflected image in the mirror that formed 
the upper part of an antique cabinet. 

“I must make myself most charming of ap- 
pearance when I go to see your father, Stanley. 
A woman should desire to appear to advantage 
16 


242 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


before the father of her affianced,” she laughed 
maliciously. 

“I fancy it is as well that you are not to be 
reached; your respected father’s idea of honor 
is, I doubt not, of a greater delicacy and more 
reliable than is yours, my noble one. But I must 
arrange my little affair so it shall not have the 
misfortune to conflict with the interview of my 
German mountain; it must be with discretion 
that I proceed. Ah! I shall find a little sum 
from Pere Broadnax to arrange itself most 
comfortably in my purse. The poor, blind old 
Otto, he can see no farther than his great nose, 
by which I shall lead him ; he is to send for me, 
to tell the story of Stanley’s deceit, of which he 
has heard but the fragments that it suited my 
purpose to tell him. Mon Dieu, such a credul- 
ous stupid I” 

Her rippling laugh floated back into the room 
as she passed through the doorway down the 
small hall, to direct the disposal of her trunks 
and various effects. 

Irene, having obtained the sum of money 
which she had promised Stanley, spent the re- 
mainder of the day trying to decide whether she 
were right in taking the entire responsibility of 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 243 

her brother’s deeds upon herself. Would it not 
be well to give him the money to-night solely on 
the condition that he would explain the whole 
situation to his father? She sighed; of what 
use was it to exact a promise from one who held 
truth and honor in such light esteem? She 
could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion. 

Mrs. Broadnax had some friends dining with 
them that evening, and Irene found it hard to 
sit patiently through the meal while she specu- 
lated on the possibility of some one’s straying 
to the library when her brother was there. 

At last the seemingly endless dinner was over, 
and the guests were sufficiently engrossed in 
their pleasures to admit of her withdrawal with- 
out attracting attention. She went at once to 
the library, closed the door, and unlocked the 
bay window; then she endeavored to wait pa- 
tiently. A half hour passed, then her watch 
told her another quarter had slipped by. Stan- 
ley had assured her he would come early. 

“Ah !” she walked quickly to the window, and 
raised it, as he looked in cautiously, saying: 

“I don’t think I’ll come in, sister, it’s later 
than I expected, and I’m a bit pressed for time; 
have you the money?” 


244 the german bracelet 


“Yes; but, Stanley,” Irene objected, “I want 
to say something to you, I don’t — ” 

“Have you seen Cragfels? What does he 
say?” Stanley interrupted. 

“No; but, Stanley, — you have no right, — ” 

“Oh, now, listen, Irene,” — Stanley’s voice 
was a trifle impatient, — “if you don’t care to 
give me the money, why just say so. I cannot ex- 
plain this affair to you, and I haven’t a moment 
to lose, either. You can give me the money, and 
I’ll be grateful, you may believe; but if you 
don’t, why — it’s as I told you the other night.” 

“Of course. I’ll give you the money,” Irene 
interposed; “but still, you don’t seem to real- 
ize — ” 

“Oh, yes, I do, little sister, never fear; now 
give it to me. Sure it’s all there?” he queried. 
“One, — two, — three, — five. Thanks, Irene, 
you’re the very best. Here, here’s my address; 
let me know how Cragfels behaves, and then I’ll 
come home, and be again your respectable 
brother. Good night.” 

He kissed her cheek as she leaned out toward 
him, and then was gone. 

Irene closed and locked the window carefully, 
and then, with a feeling of bitterness in her 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 


245 


heart, rejoined the guests in the parlor, making 
her way quietly to the corner where her mother 
and another matronly person were comparing 
notes as to the individual excellencies of their 
respective children, and at the moment that 
Irene approached Mrs. Broadnax was relating 
an anecdote of Stanley’s childhood, wherein his 
innate nobility of character was clearly mani- 
fested, even at that tender age. 

Irene’s feeling of bitterness intensified, and 
she escaped from the corner where it seemed as 
if the very atmosphere were filled with mock- 
ery, with the irony of disillusion. 

How glad she would be when Dad ^came 
home ! 

When her father did arrive, the following 
morning, Irene was torn between the desire to 
explain to him the situation and a feeling of 
apprehension as to the effect upon him of her 
disclosure should she yield to her inclination. 


CHAPTER XIX 


“So you’re going to that affair at the German 
Ambassador’s, are you? Dear me, what a 
society butterfly you are; can’t even spend his 
first evening at home with your poor, neglected 
Dad!” He drew the bronzy head down to his 
own, as Irene, perched on the arm of his chair, 
expressed for the hundredth time her delight at 
his return. 

“Wish I could,” she answered fervently, 
thinking of the disagreeable task before her; 
hardly a butterfly’s task, she commented to her- 
self. 

“It’s all very well for you to pretend you 
want me,” she continued, “but I don’t forget so 
quickly that you declared you went away just to 
be delivered from my tormenting; you shall 
repent before you’re forgiven 1” 

She shook her finger at him sternly while she 
slipped from the arm of his chair and swept 
from the room like a queen of tragedy. 

Irene put from her, with vehement deter- 
mination, every thought and memory of Colonel 
(246) 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 247 

Yelverton, consoling her aching heart with the 
cheering reflection that she would have years 
and years to realize and appreciate the great- 
ness of her unhappiness and the loss of beauty 
and harmony that everything about her seemed 
to have sustained, since that morning when she 
had quaffed her first sip of that marvelous 
potion which is made of the mingling of perfect 
joy with perfect sorrow which we call the bitter- 
sweet of love. 

Irene never clearly remembered how that day 
dragged itself to a weary close, but she entered 
her room to dress for the ball, with a feeling of 
relief that the dreaded task was now immedi- 
ately before her, and not to be longer vaguely 
outlined in the shadowy future. 

“Irene, my child, you are very beautiful; that 
gown becomes you to perfection,” Mrs. Broad- 
nax observed as the maid put the last touches to 
Irene’s toilette. 

Mrs. Broadnax herself looked very charming 
in her fragile stateliness that served to accentu- 
ate the brilliant loveliness of her daughter. 

Irene’s gown was of a filmy, silvery white- 
ness, through which one caught here and there 
the faintest shimmering of palest green. The 


248 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


soft, trailing folds were looped occasionally 
with silvery rose-buds, and the slender waist was 
encircled with a high girdle of silver tissue. 
Around her white throat was clasped a string 
of exquisite pearls, and in the golden brown of 
her hair glittered a silvery rose with a pearl 
center, while the dainty bells of the lilies of the 
valley, mingled with maiden-hair fern, followed 
the line of her decollete gown from one shoulder 
to the girdle. She viewed her reflection with 
absent-minded approbation, and as the long 
cloak was thrown over her shoulders, followed 
her mother down to the carriage. 

As the brougham rolled through the lighted 
streets Irene tried unsuccessfully to formulate 
a method of attack upon Cragfels’s position of 
determined animosity that should be at once 
dignified and effective. 

As she and her mother passed up the wide 
staircase of the brilliant scene of festivity there 
were but few of those in the great hall whose 
eyes did not follow her graceful figure with 
close observance, while their lips commented ad- 
miringly, or in envious disparagement on her 
beauty and charm. 

The Baroness Von Hogenburg delighted in 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 249 

magnificence and display, and the decorations 
and general elaborateness of the affair to-night 
won from the next day’s newspapers a long and 
enthusiastic account. 

Irene ascertained from Margaret that Crag- 
fels was present, but had for the moment disap- 
peared. She felt slightly discouraged, but con- 
tinued to keep a sharp lookout for the German, 
while she laughed and talked with the rest of 
society’s dissemblers. 

“Really, Guy,” Irene protested as she and that 
adoring individual were dancing, later in the eve- 
ning, “the spirit tells me that if I venture in the 
next set with that amiable but eccentric per- 
son whose name is on my card, my gown will 
be useless save as a souvenir of a unique oc- 
casion.” 

“I noticed that he was inclined to indulge a 
tendency toward originality in the movement of 
his feet,” Guy assented. “Let’s flee to the wilds 
of the conservatory, or some place where every 
ten people aren’t contending for one atom of 
oxygen,” he suggested, and as she agreed, they 
deserted the crowded rooms for the dim, scented 
coolness of the conservatory. 

“What a relief !” 


250 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Irene leaned back on the light divan that was 
sheltered by the drooping leaves of tropical 
plants, whose exquisite blossoms filled the air 
with a sensuous sweetness, while quaint lanterns 
of colored glass, suspended by bronze chains 
from the ceiling, diffused a subdued, mystic 
glimmer. 

“Jove, now, you ought to have that cloudy 
affair for your shoulders. I guess I had better 
get it, hadn’t I? What an idiot not to have 
thought of itl” 

“1 would be glad to have it, I think, Guy, 
thanks,” Irene replied, smiling her appreciation 
of his thoughtfulness. “One feels cool after the 
exercise of struggling for the disputed breath of 
oxygen.” 

She looked about her as her companion de- 
parted, thinking of Cragfels, and was startled to 
see him advancing in her direction from the far 
end of the conservatory. He was alone, and ap- 
parently occupied with his own reflections, for he 
looked neither to the right nor the left, and 
Irene knew he did not observe her where she sat, 
half concealed by the luxuriant foliage. Now 
was her time, — the psychological moment, — and 
she clutched desperately at her courage as the 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 251 

man approached, oblivious of all save his own 
personal concerns. 

“Mr. Cragfels!” 

Irene heard her own voice, and saw the man 
pause before her, looking up in surprised inquiry 
as he answered coldly : 

“Did you address me. Miss Broadnax?” 

“Y — yes, Mr. Cragfels, I should like to speak 
with you for a few moments, if you can give me 
so much of your time without interfering with 
your pleasure or arrangements.” 

“Certainly, Miss Broadnax,” Cragfels re- 
plied, seating himself beside her. “I, and my 
time, are quite at your disposal. What is it 
you desire to say to me?” 

His eyes were dull, apparently uninterested, 
and he regarded Irene stolidly. 

“I have recently learned certain facts which 
lead me to believe that my judgment of you, in 
regard to this strange bracelet, has been unjust. 
Having been, though innocently, instrumental in 
bringing down upon my brother the storm of 
your vengeance, I would ask you to accept this 
possession of yours, which I have worn under a 
sadly erroneous impression, and to beg of you 
to reconsider your intention of retaliation.” 


252 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


Cragfels’s face had changed expression as 
Irene spoke, and now his wide lips moved, 
though he did not speak aloud. His eyes were 
bent upon the golden circlet which Irene had un- 
clasped and held toward him, and once she 
noticed the hand near it twitch as if his fingers 
ached to clutch it; but he drew back his hand, 
while a half-distinguishable guttural exclamation 
fell from his lips. As he made no further reply, 
Irene asked, in a voice of earnest pleading, while 
her hand holding the bracelet trembled: 

“Will you not take it? You have been in- 
jured, and I have unconsciously aggravated your 
just anger and hatred; but surely — surely — 
when I beg of you to forgive Stanley his offense, 
and also my own part in this trouble, you will 
not refuse to be generous, to allow me to return 
to you the cause of so much distress, and to re- 
tract your threats ?” 

Irene leaned toward the German as she 
spoke, and as Cragfels now raised his eyes, a 
dull smoldering fire in their murky depths, to 
Irene’s blanched face, her extended hand fell 
limp upon her lap, her icy fingers scarcely hold- 
ing the beautiful circlet, and at the sound of the 
chuckling laugh that now came from Cragfels’s 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 253 

lips she fingered nervously the necklace of pearls 
that clasped her throat, the cords of which 
tightened till her breath came in broken, spas- 
modic respirations. 

“AchGott! You beg; you, the haughty, the 
disdainful ! — you beg, and of me ! I have made 
a vow to myself that it should be so, and I have 
laughed at you, as my vow did bind me to. So 
he has told you, has he, that scoundrel brother 
of yours, he has told you that he did outwit a 
woman, did lie to her, for that bracelet there, 
and now he finds that he and his proud family 
will have the finger of your society pointed in 
scornful derision toward them as the story of his 
disgraceful affairs at Heidleberg are gossipped 
about — a card cheater — a swindler of trades- 
people^ — a thief — a deceiver of women — such a 
a brother to have pride in !” 

He broke off abruptly, and his voice was low 
with suppressed vindictiveness as he took Irene’s 
listless hand, and while she observed him with a 
dazed comprehension, reclasped the bracelet 
upon it, saying : 

“Nein ! nein ; it is not thus that you shall pay 
my satisfaction. It is for the honorable brother 
to return it; and as I forced him from Heidel- 


254 the german bracelet 

berg, so also shall he find that his former as- 
sociates in Washington know too much of his 
private affairs to make the Capital a pleasant or 
desirable place to reside.” 

The two were so absorbed in their conversa- 
tion that neither noticed a well-built, soldierly 
figure advancing toward them, and Irene, strug- 
gling with the feeling of impotence with which 
Cragfels’s devouring hatred and malignity filled 
her, forced her dry, trembling lips to frame the 
words that her voice carried in accents of tear- 
ful supplication. 

“Oh, Mr. Cragfels, permit yourself to yield 
to the impulse of charity, to which your heart 
must prompt you, 'when I ask, — implore you, 
— not to publish broadcast your knowledge of 
my brother’s misdeeds^ — not for my sake, but 
for my mother’s who idolizes Stanley and is so 
delicate, and for my father’s, whose advanced 
years would plead consideration for him. 
Alas! he has many troubles, and regards his 
only son as first among his consoling joys. Say 
you will take — ” 

Irene’s eyes were clouded with tears as the 
German interrupted roughly: 

“Der Teufel! Nein — ” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 255 

“Er — pardon me, — Miss Broadnax. Guy 
requested me to bring you this wrap, — er, he 
was forced to stay with his sister a few moments, 
who had — er — fainted, I think; he will be here 
directly, but suggested that if you desired to re- 
turn within, you would accept my escort.” 

Colonel Yelverton had merely noticed Crag- 
fels by the slightest inclination of his head, and 
as he addressed Irene with cold formality the 
devils within him, that the apparent situation be- 
fore him had aroused, fought with valiant fury 
for supremacy over his heart and mind. 

Cragfels had immediately risen, and said 
gruffly : 

“I will, then, leave you. Miss Broadnax.” 

He bowed stiffly, and turned from them. 

Irene’s pale face had flushed deeply as she be- 
held Colonel Yelverton before her, and his frigid 
manner had seemed as the dagger thrust of 
Brutus to her wounded heart, and the words “et 
tu” sounded in her thoughts as she replied, with 
an attempt at composure : 

“Thank you, very much. Colonel Yelverton.” 

She drew the lace scarf about her gleaming 
shoulders with a gracefulness that Yelverton 
noted with irritated approval as she said : 


256 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“But I will not trouble you further, I will 
just remain here till Guy returns.” 

For an instant Yelverton hesitated; he would 
have given worlds to drop into the seat beside 
Irene, but again the picture that had met his 
vision as he approached through the conserva- 
tory door returned to his mind’s eye, and with a 
mumbled expression of acquiescence in her de- 
cision he left her. 

How her face came before him, white, and 
upturned to Cragfels, while her beautiful eyes 
were misty with tears, as the German bent to- 
ward her, his words coming in earnest haste from 
his wide lips ! And then he had seen Cragfels 
take her slender little hand in his great broad 
one, and the sight had maddened him, till every 
atom of his power of control was exerted to 
modulate his voice and manner as he addressed 
Irene. 

Had she not referred to Cragfels when she 
had refused his love, telling him he did not un- 
derstand? No ! By Heaven, he did not under- 
stand, but he was powerless against her mystery 
and coldness, as against, on the other hand, the 
consuming love and pain that struggled with his 
furious jealousy. “She is not sincere, she’s decep- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 257 

tive, and she’s merely a beautiful,” he sighed, 
“a very beautiful butterfly, without more soul 
than her prototype. That ought to be enough 
to cure any sane man of an infatuation, no mat- 
ter what extravagant dreams he may have in- 
dulged in during his period of mental aberra- 
tion.” 

Irene leaned far back among the protecting 
green shadows, and allowed the slow, painful 
tears of humiliation, of mocked entreaty and 
pleading, to slip, one by one, from beneath the 
tired white lids, down over the marble-like 
cheeks, realizing only her utter desolation and 
wretchedness, not daring to look ahead where 
she knew there would be action required of her, 
feeling only the misery of Cragfels’s ugly words 
and the contempt — surely it was contempt — that 
froze the natural gentleness of Colonel Yelver- 
ton’s features to a mask of stereotyped courtesy. 

“I say. I’ve tried- — Why, oh! Irene, little 
girl, what’s the trouble?” 

Guy bent over her anxiously as she smiled for- 
lornly at him, not trying to deny the tears that 
glistened on the long, curling lashes. 

“I thing I’d like to go right home, Guy,” she 
answered, rising as she spoke. “I have just 


17 


258 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


had a rather disagreeable interview, and I don’t 
feel particularly gay over it.” 

Guy was sympathy itself, and at once escorted 
her to her mother, both leaving at the first op- 
portunity. 

Irene decided she would do nothing until the 
morning; her head ached, and she felt so numb 
and stupid; she would defer until the morning 
her conservation with her father on the subject, 
which she now deemed imperative. 

“You look tired, Irene, dear,” Mrs. Broadnax 
commented anxiously as she bade her daughter 
good night. “You must get a good long beauty 
sleep to make up for what your looks have lost 
since we went out.” 


CHAPTER XX 


Cragfels left Irene’s side in a rage, all the 
more furious that he could not account for it with 
entire satisfaction to himself. He was in any- 
thing but a sociable mood, and when, wandering 
in irritated restlessness through the rooms, he 
was accosted by Mrs. Panned, who remarked, 
in dulcet tones, on the success of their joint pro- 
ject, he glared at her so savagely that she made 
haste to leave the vicinity of his shadowy gloom. 

Finally he felt he could no longer endure the 
atmosphere of artificial gayety that surrounded 
him, and the Baroness just then happening to 
be near him, he murmured something to her 
about an engagement, and after she had play- 
fully scolded him for neglecting his cousin, the 
Baron, and herself, she permitted him to depart. 

He would walk, he decided — a good walk al- 
ways aided him in resolving his thoughts into a 
decision. 

There was a light covering of snow upon the 
ground, and the heavens were studded with 
(259) 


26 o the german bracelet 


coldly scintillating stars. Cragfels walked rap- 
idly, to keep warm as his breath froze against 
the crisp night air. 

He had triumphed, yet he did not feel exul- 
tant; he had conquered, yet he felt no elation; 
he had accomplished his desire — she had begged 
of him, and he had laughed, — yet he could not 
rejoice. Donnerwetter ! Was he, then, turning 
weakling at the last moment ? He clutched 
fiercely at his anger, his sense of injury, only to 
see again Irene’s pathetic, pleading face, her 
violet eyes dewy with unshed tears. Were those 
delicate madonna-like features to torment him 
perpetually? He would not yield! and cling- 
ing to his cherished plans of vengeance with 
fierce tenacity, he paced the streets with long, 
uneven strides, unconscious of the passage of 
time. 

When he at last reached his apartments a 
near-by clock chimed three, and it was a weary 
man that threw himself down into the great 
chair before the writing-table. He picked up 
a leather-framed picture of Mademoiselle 
Eunice from the table before him, and scrut- 
inized it with an abstracted intentness. The 
slate-colored eyes looked tired, and the square 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 261 


brow was furrowed with lines of indeterminate 
thought. 

“I suppose I shall have to do it; I feel that 
I make of myself a fool; but, Gott in Himmel! 
who could endure forever the sound of that en- 
treating voice? I shall at least secure my own, 
and wring the truth and an apology from that 
hound before his father. His family shall know 
him for what he is — yes, and one other, also, 
shall know. Shall I tell Eunice that I have 
succumbed to weakness, to the importunities of 
the humbled Fraulein Irene? Ach, nein, she 
would not understand such frailty; she shall be 
sent for to prove the possession of my bracelet, 
but I shall not tell her until after, that I have 
decided to spare that villain, Stanley, for his sis- 
ter’s sake.” 

He replaced the picture on the table, and 
walked wearily toward his bedroom, from which 
could presently be heard a vocal evidence of the 
peacefulness of his conscience as he wandered 
on through the realm of sleep. 

Irene and her father breakfasted alone on the 
following morning, Mrs. Broadnax observing 
her usual custom of remaining in bed till noon 
after late hours; and when Irene went up to see 


262 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


her, later, she expressed a fear that she had con- 
tracted a slight cold, and would therefore keep 
her room for the day. 

Giving her father a short time to dispose of 
his mail after he had gone to his study, Irene 
summoned up her courage, and sought him there, 
forcing her reluctant feet to cross the threshold, 
while each faltering heart-beat accused her of 
cruelty. 

His fine gray head was bent over some papers 
upon his desk, and Irene noted, with a pang, the 
slight stoop of the broad, manly shoulders that 
had borne life’s many burdens with such quiet 
fortitude. 

“Is that you, Irene child, come to sit with me 
awhile?” 

He turned round, his kind blue eyes peering 
at Irene over his spectacles, while his welcoming 
smile proclaimed her his tried and trusted com- 
rade. 

“Yes, Dad, it’s I.” 

Irene smiled with dissembling cheerfulness, 
even as her courage failed her, and she greeted 
eagerly the demon of procrastination. 

Sitting on the arm of the deep leather chair, 
and with one arm thrown caressingly about his 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 263 

neck, she looked over his shoulder at the formi- 
dable pile of documents upon the desk, saying 
gently : 

“What a dear, busy old father it is!” 

Her father’s arm about her waist drew her to 
him as he answered in mock disgust : 

“Yes, and what a frivolous daughter he has, 
coming in to interrupt him just when he’s the 
busiest; how can you expect him to set a good 
example of noble industry for the rising genera- 
tion of young men, most of all, his own son? 
To be sure,” he added, smilingly whimsical, 
“his own son’s not on the scene to profit by his 
good example; but — I wish he were, I do in- 
deed,” he continued, his voice a trifle sad. “I 
don’t want to interfere with his pleasure, but I 
miss him; I wish he were home again.” 

Irene stroked the whitening locks tenderly as 
she laid her fair cheek against the bronzed one, 
and she strove to soften the harshness of her 
communication. 

“Stanley is not as far away, father dear, as 
you believe.” 

She paused, and, as her father turned to her in 
quick inquiry, she continued hurriedly: 

“He is quite near, Dad, but he’s in trouble. 


264 the german bracelet 

I’ve tried to help him without your being 
worried by it, but now the shadow threatens us 
all, and—” 

“A lady to see you, sah; shall Ah show her 
in heah, sah?” 

Mr. Broadnax was still hearing the echo of 
Irene’s interrupted words, and he answered the 
butler absently, as he still looked toward Irene, 
apparently waiting for her to resume : 

“Yes, Frederick, show her in here.” 

Before he had time to frame the question that 
hovered in his mind, there was a soft swish of 
silk, a whiff of heliotrope, and a petite figure ad- 
vanced into the room, saying, in English, with a 
pronounced French accent: 

“I must beg Monsieur to pardon me this in- 
trusion, and at this most early hour, but circum- 
stances would permit not of delay.” 

Mr. Broadnax had risen, and bowing with 
courtly dignity, advanced, saying : 

“I am glad, at all hours, to receive those to 
whom I may render assistance. Pray be seated. 
Madam.” 

As Mademoiselle took the chair that Mr. 
Broadnax placed for her near his desk, he re- 
sumed his own, asking pleasantly : 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 265 

“And now in what way can I be of service to 
you?” 

Irene had slipped quietly from the room, sup- 
posing her father’s caller to be one of the not in- 
frequent petitioners for his advice and influence. 
As she passed out she had glanced at the French- 
woman, and the latter’s eyes had met hers. It 
was for but an instant, yet each was poignantly 
conscious of the current of intense antipathy that 
thrilled, with an electric-like shock, the spiritual 
individuality of each. She settled herself in the 
adjoining room, within sight of the study door, 
intending to resume the interrupted conversation 
when her father’s visitor should have departed. 

Mr. Broadnax had assumed, like Irene, that 
he was sought by the blond woman in severely 
simple black for the purpose of requesting his 
influence in obtaining some desired political 
favor or concession, and he endeavored to 
banish, for the time being, his personal difKcul- 
ties in order the more thoroughly to place his 
mind at the disposal of the woman before him. 

Mademoiselle Eunice, having arrived at her 
decision, had lost no time in putting it into ex- 
ecution. Cragfels had told her he would call 
on Mr. Broadnax the afternoon following the 


266 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ball at his cousin’s, and Mademoiselle had there- 
fore timed her visit for the morning. She 
evinced a certain hesitation in responding to Mr. 
Broadnax’s inquiry, and then, as if overcoming 
by an almost visible effort her reluctance, replied : 

“Monsieur Broadnax, I would tell you in the 
first, that I am one having the misfortune to be 
dependent for my desubsistance on the efforts of 
myself; I tell you this, that you may know it is 
not choice that leads me to cause, as I fear, pain 
to you, of whom my ears have heard but words 
of respect and praise since my recent arrival in 
your city.” 

Mademoiselle paused. Her head, with its 
blond beauty, the heritage of her German 
mother, was for the moment lowered, while the 
astute, sagacious mind, a replica of her Parisian 
father’s scheming mentality, worked with subtle 
activity. 

Mr. Broadnax’s elevated brows expressed 
surprise as he observed : 

“I fear I do not quite understand you; but, 
proceed.” 

“It is thus,” Mademoiselle replied, her voice 
low, and the raised blue eyes trusting as a child’s. 
“Your son. Monsieur Stanley, I knew him in 


The german bracelet 267 

Heidelberg; he taught me then to trust, to be- 
lieve — ah, mon Dieu !” — she clasped her hands, 
and her voice trembled as she continued, “at last, 
to love him, — thus weak is woman’s heart!” 

Mr. Broadnax’s expression had changed; his 
left hand had closed over the bronze paper- 
weight upon his desk, and his mouth had be- 
come stern, while the eyes that regarded Mad- 
emoiselle steadily had in them a steely glitter that 
the latter did not fail to note. 

“I had given promise to be the wife of Mon- 
sieur Stanley, and for his wishes did cease my 
singing in public, and then, alas 1 without a word, 
he left — left me, me who had given to him 
trust — me, now without the pay of my concerts, 
and never, never, did he so much as to me write. 
A friend I have, that tells me his home is here, 
and I come no more to him, that have no truth, 
no honor, but to you to obtain justice. There 
is, for me, alas! no more the future artistic, 
and in this present there is not the money that I 
must have ; you can see, it is no choice — I must 
then demand of you a restitution.” 

“I have heard you. Madam, with the patient 
consideration that courtesy demands, and will 
merely overcome the contemptuous silence which 


268 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


your words merit, to say that upon whatever 
trivial indiscretions of my son you may base your 
story, his word, once given, would never be re- 
tracted. Stanley’s name is Broadnax, and the 
word of a Broadnax is the bond of his pride!” 

The old gentleman had risen, and at the last 
words he brought his hand down upon the desk 
with convincing emphasis. His proud disdain 
stung the Frenchwoman’s vanity, and unheeding 
his rising, as the signal for the conclusion of the 
interview, she opened her dainty beaded reticule 
and drew from it a small roll of paper, neatly 
tied with a gilt band. Her skilful fingers 
slipped off the latter, and then unrolling the 
sheet of paper, she placed it upon the desk, her 
delicate white forefinger pointing to the context 
as she said in a voice from which the tearful 
tremulousness had departed as by magic : 

“The bond of his pride — voilal you there 
have it; read!” 

As she spread the paper before him Mr. 
Broadnax had recognized with his first cursory 
glance the familiar, graceful boldness of his son’s 
chirography. His hand was quite steady as he 
held the sheet, and while he read Stanley’s con- 
tract to marry Mademoiselle Eunice that obser- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 269 

vant person could gather no satisfaction from 
his rigidly controlled features. 

Having completed its persual he rolled it up 
deliberately and extended it toward Mademoi- 
selle Eunice, while his complete silence, and the 
serene despisal of his steadfast scrutiny, roused 
the fiend of cruelty that reigned in Mademoi- 
selle’s selfish heart; and in a woman cruelty is to 
be doubly feared, because of the very unnatural- 
ness of its existence. 

“Well, Monsieur,” she queried, “will you then 
have your son keep to me his marriage promise, 
or does Monsieur prefer, perhaps, to make the 
arranger of money, to compensate me for the 
artistic future, of which the wicked treachery of 
Monsieur Stanley have deprived me?” There 
was a suppressed fierceness in her tone as she 
spoke. 

Mr. Broadnax stroked the head of the bronze 
dog upon his paperweight contemplatively as he 
answered with cold distinctness: 

“Really, I hardly know what I should desire 
under such circumstances; but as I have no 
knowledge that you are the person concerned in 
this contract, I do not see how it need effect this 
interview. Madam, let me assure you, there can 


270 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

be no benefit derived from the continuance of 
this conversation.” 

Mademoiselle rose, her cheeks flushed with 
anger, and her eyes sparkling. 

“As Monsieur does wish, then; it was you 
that could have saved yourself and the son; it 
shall now be that to your courts my claim I 
carry. So, Monsieur Broadnax, it shall all be 
to the public; and also shall you make to me 
the finance restitution. Ah, believe me, there 
shall then, in your mind, rest no doubt of my 
right to this paper and the keeping of the 
promise on it written !” 

Mr. Broadnax had not been as unmoved as 
his controlled countenance had indicated, and 
while he read the contract in Stanley’s writing 
his thoughts had reverted to Irene’s distressed 
mention of her brother’s serious difficulty. He 
was, in fact, greatly disturbed, and his last 
speech had been merely to satisfy himself of the 
woman’s truth and intention. He now felt con- 
vinced of Mademoiselle’s determination to at- 
tain her mercenary object, and therefore changed 
his tactics. 

Mademoiselle, watching the effect of her 
words, though she detected a subtle change in 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 271 

his mental attitude, and congratulated herself 
when he motioned to her chair, saying : 

“Be seated, please, and excuse me for a mo- 
ment. It is my desire to be just.” 

He closed the door behind him as he sought 
Irene in the adjoining room. 


CHAPTER XXI 


“Was Stanley’s trouble a broken engage- 
ment?” Mr. Broadnax asked, without pre- 
amble, and his face now showed the deep con- 
cern he felt. 

“N — no, — it was, — ” Irene commenced 

anxiously; but her father interrupted: 

“That Frenchwoman in there has a signed 
promise of marriage from Stanley. You said 
he was not far — where is he?” 

“Why — er, I have his address upstairs, just 
a short distance. Well?” 

“Send a servant, with a note to him, to come 
at once, and then come with him to the study.” 

Irene, greatly perturbed, hastily penned a 
note, urging the necessity of immediate compli- 
ance, and despatched a servant with it to Stan- 
ley’s lodgings. She then waited impatiently for 
her brother. As it was he arrived sooner than 
she expected, explaining that he was just leaving 
the house as the servant arrived. 

“What’s the matter? Cragfels getting ug- 
lier?” he asked. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 273 

“Oh, Stanley!” Irene remonstrated, her 
anger and grief struggling with her long habit 
of idolizing affection, “how can you be so selfish, 
so utterly unprincipled, as to let father and 
mother suffer for your unscruplousness ?” 

“Look here, Irene, if you — ” 

“Be still, Stanley,” Irene interrupted, “you 
don’t deserve any consideration. Come into the 
study, father’s waiting for you.” 

She led the way without more words, Stanley 
following in the sulky silence of wounded sel- 
fishness. Irene opened the study door and 
walked in. 

“Here is Stanley, father,” she said, as Mr. 
Broadnax was listening to some explanation of 
the Frenchwoman’s. He turned as Irene spoke 
and Stanley advanced to his side. 

“Ah, Stanley, my boy, it’s good to see you 
again ; you gave us a surprise by your un- 
expected return.” 

His hand still clasped that of his son’s in 
hearty welcome, as he addressed the astonished 
Mademoiselle Eunice. 

“I thought it would be as well for you to see 
my son, so that you could be quite certain that 
he is the person of whom you speak.” 

18 


274 the german bracelet 


Mademoiselle Eunice had half risen from her 
chair, stifling an exclamation of intense surprise, 
as Stanley entered the room, and that young 
man had been thrown completely off his guard 
by the unexpected apparition of his Heidelberg 
fiancee. He had turned pale, and stammered 
confusedly as he greeted his father. Mademoi- 
selle now made an effort to regain her com- 
posure as she answered : 

“It is, as I say, your son. Monsieur Stanley, 
of whom I speak.” 

Stanley glanced uneasily from Mademoiselle 
to his father, who now held toward him a sheet 
of paper, saying: 

“This lady claims this to have been given to 
her by you — is it so?” 

Old Mr. Broadnax had had a faint hope that 
it might be, after all, a clever forgery, and, de- 
spite strong misgivings, had clung with obsti- 
nate faith to the belief in his son’s uprightness 
and honor. As he now watched Stanley read- 
ing the paper, his hand trembling, and features 
showing marked agitation, he was compelled to 
recognize the truth of the woman’s assertion. 

“Well?” he asked, a world of bitterness and 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 275 

disappointment concentrated in the single 
syllable. 

Stanley dropped the paper on the desk, his 
dark eyes stealing a glance sidewise at Irene; 
but her distressed countenance gave no hint of 
assistance. He then looked across at Mad- 
emoiselle Eunice, but the Frenchwoman’s eyes 
were hard, and her coral lips drawn to a straight 
line. He passed his hand across his damp 
brow. 

^Welir 

Stanley heard again his father’s interroga- 
tory monosyllable, now tinged with angry im- 
patience. He tried to meet his eyes, but his own 
fell before the storm of wounded love and pride 
he saw there. 

“I — it’s true, sir.” 

His voice sounded hollow. He made an at- 
tempt at his usual nonchalant manner as he 
added, more firmly: 

“I meant to keep it, then; afterwards I 
thought she would have — er — forgotten; then 
circumstances — ” 

Mr. Broadnax raised his hand authorita- 
tively, and Stanley ceased. 

“Miss Dupres,” reading Eunice’s signature, 
“demands the fulfillment of your contract, or 


276 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


pecuniary restitution. Is it your wish to marry 
the lady?” 

The biting sarcasm of his quiet tone pierced 
even Stanley’s armor of self-complacency, and 
as he looked in doubt and confusion from Mad- 
emoiselle to his father, the latter continued, in- 
terpreting his negative silence: 

“There remains, then, pecuniary restitution.” 

He turned to his desk, and drawing some 
blank sheets toward him, dipped his pen in the 
ink, and wrote rapidly for a few moments ; then 
handing Mademoiselle Eunice the paper, said: 

“I will comply with your demand. Miss 
Dupres, and pay you a just recompense for your 
financial loss, provided you sign this release, re- 
linquishing all further claim on my son, and 
binding you to refrain from any similar pro- 
ceedings in the future. Do you agree to this?” 

Mademoiselle had agreed, mentally, with 
jubilant satisfaction, before Mr. Broadnax had 
half finished, and now, after a pause of ap- 
parent deliberation, she announced: 

“Yes, Monsieur; it is but just, your desire; 
for my part, it could be concluded at once, this 
affair.” 

“That is exactly my wish!” Mr. Broadnax 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 277 

rejoined dryly; and again took up his pen, this 
time filling out a check, which he handed to her. 

“Does that meet with your approval?” 

“Certainment! Monsieur is the most just. 
Merci, Monsieur!” replied the wise woman, 
knowing when to master her cupidity. 

“If you will sign this, here. Miss Dupres.” 

He handed the pen to the Frenchwoman, and 
as she affixed her name he passed it to Irene, 
saying : 

“And you, daughter, sign here, as witness.” 

Irene traced her signature with fingers that 
seemed to share the numbness of her brain. 

Mr. Broadnax turned to the Frenchwoman, 
asking : 

“Is this known to anyone beside yourself?” 

“Oh! non, non, to no one.” / 

Stanley was thinking with apprehensive dread 
of the subsequent interview with his father, 
which imagination pictured. 

“Ah beg pardon, sah. Ah thought de lady 
had goan, sah. A gem’man to see you, sah.” 

Mr. Broadnax took the card from the butler’s 
extended tray, and rose slowly as a heavily built 
man entered the room. 

Mademoiselle was putting on the black glove 


278 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


which she had removed from her right hand, 
and she looked up at the servant’s announce- 
ment, letting fall the beaded reticule as she ex- 
claimed, in irritated surprise : 

“Otto! Mon Dieu!” 

The German bowed, his countenance evincing 
equal surprise; then turning to Mr. Broadnax: 

“I have not the honor of your acquaintance, 
Mr. Broadnax, but I have called to lay before 
you a matter of importance to you, as also to 
me.” 

His glance passed Mr. Broadnax, and for the 
first time he observed Irene, while behind her, 
leaning against a bookcase, and half concealed 
by its shadow, Stanley stood, his long, white 
fingers toying nervously with his watch fob. 

“Der Teufel!” exclaimed Cragfels, his great 
bushy brows meeting in an ugly scowl; “you 
are here, then!” 

Mr. Broadnax, about to invite his caller to 
be seated, started at his ejaculation, and follow- 
ing the latter’s glance, beheld Stanley lurking 
irresolutely at the back of Irene’s chair, his 
countenance so utterly unlike that of his hand- 
some, debonair son, that mechanically he looked 
at him over his glasses, thinking the worried, 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 279 

fearful appearance of the man before him must 
be an optical illusion; but his second glance met 
the same unnatural aspect of his son, whose 
dark, troubled eyes watched the intruder as if 
fascinated. 

Shaking off his feeling of the unreality of the 
scene, Mr. Broadnax turned to the man beside 
him, saying: 

“You have evidently mistaken my son for a 
— friend. Won’t you be seated?” 

Then, to Mademoiselle, who had been an ab- 
sorbed spectator : 

“Miss Dupres, my daughter will conduct 
you — ” 

As the Frenchwoman rose, the German, 
about to take the proffered chair, interrupted: 

“Mademoiselle and I are, as you have noted, 
acquainted, and I would beg that she remain, as 
she is already here.” He glanced meaningly at 
her as he emphasized the last words : “It 
would be necessary to send for her later, in any 
event.” 

Mr. Broadnax signified his surprised assent, 
and as Mademeoiselle Eunice resumed her seat 
the German continued: 

“Your daughter, whom it is my honor to 


28 o the german bracelet 


know,” bowing toward the speechless Irene, 
“and your son, whom I mistake not for a 
friend,” — his lips parted in a smile that made 
Stanley shiver, — “I would request that they also 
remain.” 

He then took the chair near Mr. Broadnax, 
who was groping among indistinct memories, 
endeavoring to recall the circumstance that had 
as its center this thick-voiced, square-jawed 
German. 

“Mr. Broadnax, your son, while in Heidel- 
berg, obtained by false means a possession of 
mine, after I had exposed his cheating at 
cards — ” 

“It’s a lie — an infernal lieF^ 

Every eye was turned to Stanley as he stood 
gripping with nerveless fingers the chair before 
him, his bloodless face staring starkly out from 
the sea of disgrace whose rising waves threat- 
ened to engulf him. Feeling the momentary 
silence which his outbreak had caused to be as 
a plank drifting toward him in his imminent 
peril, he grasped it with the frenzy of despair, 
and advancing to the desk pointed to Cragfels, 
saying to his father: 

“Father, that is the man whom you first 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 281 


heard of as my friend, and from whom I after- 
ward told you 1 had suffered a great injury. 
His presence here is an insult to me, and 
through me, to my family. Will you not in- 
sist on his immediate withdrawal? His words 
are false, all, utterly without truth; will you 
permit this man to remain here?” 

“Mr. Cragfels,” Mr. Broadnax commenced, 
I must — ” 

“Ach, Himmel ! do you then suppose I have 
come here with a bare assertion? Here — ” 

He placed two letters on the desk before the 
elder man, who now looked up from one man to 
the other, where they stood glaring across the 
intervening desk. 

The German’s eyes turned for a moment to- 
ward Irene, who had now risen, and was clasp- 
ing and unclasping her fingers in evident irreso- 
lution. 

Stanley’s long hand swooped down upon the 
letters, his white, tapering fingers closing upon 
them like the claws of a bird of prey. 

*‘Put them downF* 

Old Mr. Broadnax’s voice rang with the sad 
sternness of a condemning Brutus, and Stanley 


282 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


dropped them, moving from the desk as he said 
in a tone of indignant injury : 

“You will realize, too late, sir, the injustice 
you are committing. Again I ask, will you 
have that German scoundrel sent from the 
house, or shall / go?” 

“Stanley, your last act compels me to — ” 
“Very well, then, / shall go!” 

He turned and had started toward the door, 
but in an instant Cragfels, with astonishing 
rapidity, had sprung behind Mr. Broadnax’s 
chair, and as Stanley’s hand was upon the door 
the German seized him by the shoulder, crying 
furiously : 

“Gott ill Himmel, nein I It is not thus you 
escape me. It is long I have waited for you, 
and it shall be, I pray, never that we meet again ; 
but now you shall obey my will 1” 

Stanley s efforts to escape his enemy were un- 
availing, the powerful arms of the German 
holding him as in a vise as he directed his steps 
toward the center of the room and placed his 
broad bulk between Stanley and the door. 


CHAPTER XXII 


With a suppressed cry Irene had rushed to 
her father, whose hand was still pressed upon 
the letters as he half arose in excitement. 

“Stanley — Mr. Cragfels — what does this 
mean? Remain in the room, Stanley; and 
you,” to Cragfels, “make known, in as few 
words as possible, your explanation of whatever 
grievance or injury causes this inexcusable dis- 
turbance. I am waiting, sir!” he added with 
dignity, as the German paused, seeking for suita- 
ble words. 

“Read, Mr. Broadnax,” he answered; “read 
those two letters, one from the Countess Geye- 
lin of Heidelberg, the most distinguished 
woman of society there, at whose house the dis- 
graceful episode occurred; the other from Herr 
Erkstein, a man of international reputation in 
many lines, one of which is card playing, and 
gaming in general. You read, also, the names 
of various officers and others then present, as 
also several concise opinions on this gentleman’s 
conduct in regard to the bills of tradespeople, 
(283) 


284 the german bracelet 


as also other equally discreditable actions. 
Read !” he commanded. 

Irene, crouched beside her father, was cast- 
ing imploring glances toward the German, 
while she stroked pitifully the cold hand that 
hung beside the chair as her father listened to 
Cragfels’s torrent of words. 

Mr. Broadnax now took up the Countess’s 
letter, but perusing it his mind seemed dazed, 
as before him was suddenly disclosed the crude 
material of the idol he had worshiped. Alas ! 
it was but clay — even poor clay ! Irene crossed 
the room to Cragfels, who watched her father 
with unfaltering attention. As she approached 
she again caught Mademoiselle Eunice’s cat- 
like gaze, and again felt a shiver of aversion, 
almost physical in its intensity, pass over her. 

“Ah, Mr. Cragfels, see the sorrow you cause 
— the suffering you make an old man endure; 
have pity, let me return the bracelet, and do not 
inflict a public disgrace upon the pride of one 
who has never harmed you !” 

Her eyes pleaded against the German’s im- 
passivity, but he answered gruffly: 

“You shall see.” 

Irene felt, rather than saw, the flash of mali- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 285 

cious satisfaction that lighted Mademoiselle’s 
features. 

Having finished the first letter, Mr. Broad- 
nax took up the second, and after mastering the 
plainly stated facts in each, pushed them, with 
a gesture indescribably pathetic in its hauteur 
and grieved acceptance of the contents, toward 
Cragfels, who, meeting the older man’s sad 
eyes, for the first time appeared to hesitate. 

“I have read the letters,” Mr. Broadnax said 
in an even, unemotional voice. “Well?” 

“They refer to the incident which, combined 
with other causes”^ — he glaced for a moment at 
Mademoiselle Eunice — “resulted in your son’s 
obtaining a gold bracelet from Mademoiselle 
Dupres, by what deceitful means she can tell 
you. This heirloom he knew, by my own 
words to be of the greatest value to me; and 
having thus secured it, he secretly left the city, 
where society’s doors were barred against him, 
and the tradespeople were unwilling longer to 
credit a gambler.” 

At mention of the bracelet Mr. Broadnax 
had started violently, and turning to Irene be- 
side him caught the sound of a stifled sob as the 


286 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


full extent of her brother’s duplicity was un- 
folded by the relentless German. 

“Yes, Fraulein Broadnax, you have it, there, 
upon your arm,” he added as Irene’s trembling 
fingers sought the evil-fated gold band, and 
with the impulse of the moment unclasped it 
from her white wrist. 

Stanley, almost in front of Mademoiselle 
Eunice, who had moved back her chair as Crag- 
fels forced him back to the middle of the room, 
was clinching his hands till the nails bruised 
the palms, and as his foe tore the blinding veil 
of love from the eyes of his family, stripping 
him at the same time of his garment of deceit, 
and pitilessly exposing his naked soul in all its 
miscreated ugliness, every energy and evil crav- 
ing were united in one intent, the instinct of the 
injured brute — to kill. 

His white teeth were sunk deep in his blood- 
less lips, his muscles tightened, and his dark 
eyes gleamed as they watched with lynx-like 
cunning for his opportunity. 

Cragfels leaned forward, about to continue, 
and Stanley, seeeing his advantage, with a snarl 
like that of his forest brother leaped upon him. 

The German staggered, regained his balance, 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 287 


and gripped Stanley beneath the arms; but the 
slighter man seemed possessed of a fiend, so 
furious was his onslaught. His long fingers 
fastened like fangs upon Cragfels’s thick throat, 
bearing him back, ever backward, till the Ger- 
man’s eyes looked upward, when of a sudden 
the death-like grip that was choking life from 
him loosened, he breathed, and with the whole 
of his might he brought his elbow up and gave 
to the side of Stanley’s bent head a blow that 
completed the fall that Mademoiselle’s dropped 
reticule, causing his stumble, had commenced. 

With a muttered “Damn you!” Stanley 
gathered himself up, leaning against the desk, 
a wild, disheveled ghost, yet the true creature 
at last, short of the softening embellishments 
of culture and convention. 

Mademoiselle’s shrill shrieks as the two men 
closed had been silenced by Mr. Broadnax’s 
stern voice, endeavoring by words to quell the 
physical storm that raged with animal-like 
ferocity. 

As Stanley went down Irene uttered a low 
cry, and ran to him, but seeing he was not, as 
she had feared, dangerously hurt, she raised her 
tear-dimmed eyes, eloquent with all her 


288 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


woman’s passionate love and unselfishness, as on 
her knees she held up to Cragfels the jeweled 
circlet. 

“Take it! Oh! will you not end this, and 
spare my poor father greater pain?” 

Unconsciously, Cragfels’s harsh tones were 
softened, as he raised Irene by her extended 
hands, saying : “You shall see, listen — ” 

“Mademoiselle Dupres, oblige me by ex- 
plaining to Mr. Broadnax how this bracelet — ” 
“It is unnecessary,” Mr. Broadnax inter- 
rupted; “it is sufficient that it is upon my 
daughter’s arm.” 

But Mademoiselle, not to be thus put off 
commenced : 

“He, that treacherous one there,” indicating 
dramatically the sullen Stanley, “he begged of 
me permicion to observe, to examine, and I, 
leaving the room for one instant, returned, and 
voila!” — with an outward motion of both 
hands — “he is depart — with the bracelet of 
Monsieur, my friend — ” 

“Little sister of Satan,” Stanley hissed, “that, 
at least I will prove false — ” 

“Enough!” Mr. Broadnax thundered; “your 
word and honor once thrown to the dogs, would 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 289 

you crawl like a scavenger to steal it back? 
Your intentions, Mr. Cragfels, I would ask?” 

“It had been my intention to let the disgrace 
of your son be made public, through a charge 
of felony, proved in your own courts, as also 
to make known to your Washington society the 
manner of creature they have unknowingly en- 
tertained as a normal being. He would even 
now find a cold reception at his clubs did he ven- 
ture there — card cheaters are no more admired 
here than abroad, it does appear. But your 
daughter, Fraulein Irene, whom I at first sus- 
pected of complicity in this affair, but now know 
to be but the unconscious tool of that villain, has 
plead with such a nobleness for her family that 
I have yielded in part; I yet demand, how- 
ever, the return of my property, and an apology 
from your son, Herr Broadnax, to be made in 
the presence of a Colonel Yelverton, who 
treated me with indignity at your house in Vir- 
ginia when I was seeking this same possession.” 

“Parbleu! Otto, mon ami,” Mademoiselle 
exclaimed with the irritation of the feline from 
whom has been snatched a particularly choice 
morsel, “is it for so pauvre a revenge that I 
travel to your assistance?” 


19 


290 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

But Cragfels rejoined sternly: 

“I have so decided; and also, there are some 
words for you — later.’’ 

And Mademoiselle was silent. 

Irene’s eyes beamed with the gratitude that 
filled her troubled heart, as she patted her 
father’s arm encouragingly as she whispered 
softly : 

“It will not be the worst, then. Dad; we 
must comply with his conditions.” 

“My daughter is right, Mr. Cragfels; we 
are grateful that you have demanded the lesser 
of the evils. I will send word at once to Col- 
onel Yelverton, requesting him, as a favor, to 
return with my messenger.” 

Cragfels inclined his head in assent, and the 
old gentleman adjusted his spectacles, and after 
a moment’s pause wrote a short note, request- 
ing the Colonel’s presence immediately, if pos- 
sible. 

Irene at once took the note in silence, and de- 
spatched the same servant with it who had sum- 
moned Stanley. 

Mr. Broadnax sat staring straight before 
him, like a man whom a bullet has mortally 
wounded, waiting in a semi-paralysis for death. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 291 


Cragfels stood gazing intently out of the 
window. 

Mademoiselle Eunice was engaged in restor- 
ing to a semblance of its pristine daintiness the 
trampled reticule. 

Irene, re-entering the room, went at once to 
her father, and, seated upon the arm of his 
chair, sought by her silent caresses to convey her 
perfect sympathy. 

Upon the desk rested the strange circlet of 
gold with its crowning pink pearl, and Irene 
caught Stanley’s half-closed eyes scrutinizing it 
narrowly from where he sat in the shadow of 
the old book-case. Instinctively she took it up, 
hardly aware of the impulse of distrust that 
prompted the action. 

A discordant laugh startled the silence-bound 
occupants of the room, and as Cragfels turned 
to the corner from which the harsh sound pro- 
ceeded, Stanley said sneeringly to Irene : 

“You needn’t be afraid, I don’t want to touch 
the thing — it’s all a fraud, anyhow; no old 
bracelet like that could have any such marve- 
lous value; it’s nothing but a trinklet, at best.” 

He flung the latter part of his speech toward 
Cragfels, who replied bitingly: 


292 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

“To you it is, as you say, at best a trinket; 
but to me — ” he stopped. 

“Well, to you?” 

They all started at the question, reiterated 
by old Mr. Broadnax, his eyes fixed vacantly on 
Cragfels as he added, in the strangely quiet 
voice of one giving his inner thought verbal ex- 
pression almost unconsciously: 

“It must be very, very dear to you, that you 
seek it so determinedly.” 

“You are right — it is dear; I would say, 
priceless; the reason you shall know when it 
is returned to me.” 

The twenty minutes that elapsed before Col- 
onel Yelverton arrived were ticked into eternity 
by the onyx clock upon the mantel, amid com- 
plete silence. 

There was but one point which did not satisfy 
Cragfels — that was the estrangement between 
Colonel Yelverton and Irene, which Mrs. Pan- 
nell had pronounced to be an accomplished fact. 

Having once adopted the role of a benignly 
merciful ruler of destinies, he felt an inclination 
to increase the gratitude that had shown from 
the violet depths of Irene’s eyes as he commuted 
her brother’s sentence. Moreover, he was pro- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 293 

yoked with Mademoiselle Eunice for her un- 
expected arrival on the scene, and he enjoyed 
with spiteful satisfaction her certain annoyance 
which his praising another woman would evoke ; 
so while Irene thought with dread of Yelver- 
ton’s arrival, the German was planning their 
reconciliation. 

Stanley watched his father furtively, but the 
gray, tired countenance showed age but no 
emotion. 

At last there came the sound of footsteps, 
distinctly heard in the silence of suspense, and 
as Irene opened the door, Frederick announced 
“Colonel Yelverton,” and that gentleman en- 
tered the study, aware at once of the high ten- 
sion to which the nerves of those in the room 
were strung, as equally of the peculiar atmos- 
phere, surcharged with intense but suppressed 
emotion. 

Irene offered the tips of her cold fingers, and 
Colonel Yelverton then reached Mr. Broadnax, 
who half rose from his chair as he shook, with 
mechanical cordiality, the hand of the young 
officer, inviting him to Cragfels’s vacant chair 
beside the desk, after a hurried introduction to 
Mademoiselle Dupres, saying: 


294 the german bracelet 

“Mr. Cragfels has desired that you be pres- 
ent” — his voice failed him, but immediately 
regaining his control he resumed firmly, ^ — “at 
the apology which he demands from my son, 
for having obtained, by false means, a posses- 
sion of his, and which Stanley then gave to his 
sister, to whom you were instrumental, during 
a Virginia raid, in restoring it, sharing her opin- 
ion that it was rightfully her property. I think 
that is sufficient explanation”' — he glanced at 
Cragfels, who nodded, and concluded to Yel- 
verton — “for begging your immediate presence 
with such lack of ceremony.” 

“I am only too glad, Mr. Broadnax, believe 
me, to be of the slightest service to you and 
your family.” He glanced at Irene, upon the 
arm of her father’s chair, but she gave no sign 
of recognition. 

Stanley felt every eye in the room bent on 
him; the wronged Cragfels, in stern demand; 
the deserted Mademoiselle Eunice’s, in fiendish 
enjoyment of his humiliation; and his father’s 
and sister’s, in the sorrow and anger of love 
wounded by selfish deceit; and last of all. Col- 
onel Yelverton’s, in pained surprise. 

It was the hardest moment of his life; his 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 295 

mind reverted to the card-room at the Countess 
Geyelin’s house — he shuddered, this exceeded 
even the horror of that. 

Cragfels’s compelling look and the intense 
silence drew him, as it were, to his feet, and 
with a last effort he overcame the queer, chok- 
ing sensation that stiffened his throat, and 
moistening his dry lips, commenced : 

“I apologize to Mr. Cragfels for obtaining, 
under false pretenses, and for the purpose of 
revenge, this bracelet,” — he took it from Irene’s 
trembling hand, — “all of which I acknowledge, 
as also having presented it to my sister, Irene, 
as a gift, binding her by promise to wear it al- 
ways, in order to complete my scheme of 
revenge. I now return, with my acknowled- 
ment, and my apology, this bracelet, to its 
rightful owner.” 

There were cold beads of moisture upon his 
forehead as he concluded, and placing in Crag- 
fels’s outstretched hand the ill-fated band, sank 
into the chair again, in the shadow of the old 
bookcase. 

Cragfels bowed his acceptance of the apology 
and bracelet, saying: 

“I would only, for my part, add, that as 


296 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

Colonel Yelverton witnessed my former discom- 
fiture, and has now heard the assertion of my 
right to the then disputed bracelet, it is but just 
that I should repeat the fact that Herr Stanley 
Broadnax and his family are indebted for the 
relinquishing of my fixed intention of bringing 
on him and them a public exposure and dis- 
grace, to Herr Broadnax’s sister, Fraulein 
Irene, whose noble unselfishness and honor won 
my respectful regard, and finally, the granting 
of her petition for leniency.” 

Again Yelverton’s gray eyes sought Irene’s, 
and though she still avoided them, a faint color 
tinted her white cheeks. 

“We have yet to hear what makes that 
bracelet of such priceless value,” Stanley ob- 
served, the smallness of his nature evincing it- 
self in the curiosity that could live amid such 
emotions. 

Cragfels’s square fingers caressed the circlet 
almost tenderly as, facing Mr. Broadnax and 
Irene, Mademoiselle Eunice to his left, Stanley 
in the shadow to his right, and Colonel Yelver- 
ton near the Frenchwoman, he told the brace- 
let’s history. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


“This bracelet is to me priceless, for it se- 
cures to me my birthright, and my birthright 
is a throne!” 

In the quick start of surprise and interested 
expectancy that greeted Cragfels’s announce- 
ment, Irene noted for the first time that the 
German was really a young man; he had al- 
ways appeared to her much older than her 
brother and Colonel Yelverton, but it now 
seemed as if a cloud had lifted from his heavy 
features while his hands fingered caressingly 
the beautiful golden band, and she realized that 
he was, after all, in his early manhood. He 
looked directly at Irene as he continued in the 
narrative tone of one recalling other days and 
scenes : 

“I have very dim recollections of my child- 
hood, but I remember that my father, who was 
a German, died early, and then at twelve years 
of age I lost my mother. She used to tell me 
strange, interesting stories of Szegovar, her 
home in far Transylvania, but they were al- 
(297) 


298 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


ways vague, indefinite accounts of the customs 
and habits of her people, and often would she 
break off abruptly, and her tears of homesick- 
ness and longing would fall upon my hands as 
she held them clasped in her lap, while her 
dreamy eyes would seem again to see the wild, 
mountain beauty of her home. 

“After a short illness she died suddenly, I 
being alone with her at the time. With her 
last strength she unclasped from her arm this 
circlet, and gave it to me, saying in broken 
breaths : 

“ ‘Treasure this, your birthright; do not 
seek to know, till twenty-five, then ask Naga. 
Swear to keep — ’ and she had left me, her sad 
spirit in the eternal peace at last. 

“Naga, my nurse, a young peasant from my 
mother’s country, returning to the room, found 
me kneeling beside the lifeless form. 

“After that the years went quickly. My 
father’s brother sent me to schools, and finally 
to Heidelberg. Always I wore the strange 
bracelet, hungering to know its history; but 
when I visited the married Naga, in the country, 
she would only say I must never marry any but 
one of high birth, that tradition demanded it. 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 299 

and that I was called to fill a noble position in 
life, but she insisted on no ordinary marriage; 
nor could I persuade her to tell me more — not 
until after my twenty-fifth birthday, she said 
decisively. I had passed by some little time 
the eventful birthday, and was waiting im- 
patiently Naga’s return from a visit to some of 
her folk, when, yielding to impulse, I allowed 
Mademoiselle Dupres to keep in her possession 
for a short time the bracelet, and thus afforded 
Herr Broadnax his opportunity to obtain it. 
Immediately on learning of its loss I hastened 
to Naga, who had just returned home, and then 
learned from her its true significance, which 
knowledge was only possessed by my deceased 
parents and her, my mother’s trusted servant 
and confidant, in the troubles preceding her 
marriage with my German father. The story 
she told me was this: 

“The bracelet was an heirloom in the noble 
family of my mother, how old, none knew, but 
was said to have been first presented to a 
daughter of that house by the son of a mighty 
lord, who with it gave a plan for the capture 
of his father’s city, provided the lady would 
marry him at once ; which, yielding to ambition. 


300 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

she did, only to find herself duped, and her 
father’s kingdom imperiled. However true 
that may be, the circlet had been handed down 
through generations till my mother, the only 
daughter of the king, became its possessor. At 
the king’s death she, being a year her brother’s 
senior, should have succeeded as ruler; but she 
had fallen in love with a young German officer 
then visiting her father’s court, greatly to the 
anger of the king, and there resulted such a 
bitter estrangement between the members of 
the royal family that she at last relinquished 
her rights to the throne, in favor of her brother, 
with the proviso that she be permitted to marry 
her German lover, and also that should she ever 
have a son he, instead of her brother’s children, 
should inherit her forfeited right to reign. 
This agreement was drawn up and signed and 
witnessed in the presence of the council, whose 
powers are almost greater than that of the ruler. 
Thus, their word given, there was secured to 
such a son the throne, notwithstanding any op- 
position from the young king, which indeed then 
seemed unlikely, as, though married, he was 
childless. However, several years later an heir 
was born to him, and then my mother soon 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 301 

realized how wise she had been in taking pre- 
cautionary measures to secure to me my royal 
heritage, and therefore treasured the more 
jealously the document proclaiming her son’s 
right of accesion. 

“When a young girl, she had had presented to 
her by a traveler from India a piece of very 
curious cream-colored silk, of cobweb-like tex- 
ture, yet capable of being written upon with a 
certain fluid which he gave her. Yielding to 
what she lightly asserted to be a whim, the 
graybearded councilors, who all adored their 
young princess, assented to having the agree- 
ment drawn up on a small strip of this peculiar 
paper-like silk material. It was not very diffi- 
cult, for the wording was short and to the point, 
so my mother’s idea met with success, and where 
the legend relates that the false lover secreted 
the plans of his city’s fortifications, my mother 
hid the signed slip of silk.” 

Cragfels fingered the bracelet carefully, and 
Irene gave a little cry as, in apparent response 
to some tiny spring, the flat square of gold that 
held the wonderful rose-pink pearl was lifted 
up, disclosing a small cavity. 

Every one bent in eager expectancy toward 


302 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

Cragfels as, with the point of a silver paper- 
cutter, he drew out one end of a strip of silk- 
like texture, and then, with his fingers, gently, 
and with infinite care, drew forth the whole 
piece, which, deftly rolled upon two golden 
wires inserted at one end of the strip, had re- 
posed securely enough in the broad circling 
band. Unwinding it, and smoothing out the 
folds, he held up the oblong strip of gossamer- 
like fabric, which, wrapped skilfully about the 
golden wires, had been easily drawn through 
the hollow center of the bracelet. 

Cragfels, observing the intense interest de- 
picted on every face that gazed in speechless 
surprise at the beautiful bracelet and its strange 
contents, laughed a low, amused laugh of min- 
gled satisfaction and pleasure. It broke the 
strained silence that had followed his story, and 
Mademoiselle Eunice heaved a very audible sigh 
as she rubbed her eyes, saying: 

“It is charmant — but, as a dream!” 

Cragfels continued in a lighter tone as he 
still smoothed the strip of silk: 

“My uncle will oppose me, but to no purpose 
— this is now supported by the council, and it is 
for them to secure the rightful succession to the 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 303 

throne. Ach, Himmel! to you, of this great 
country, it would seem but a small kingdom, 
this Szegovar, closed in on the three sides by 
mountains, the great clouds resting upon their 
rugged heights as they rise in somber dignity, 
with the rippling laughter of the hillside water- 
fall to echo through the dim twilight of the for- 
ests. But it is rich for its size, and its people 
are very thrifty and honest, and they have in 
their generous hearts the noble simplicity of 
nature. They too share the beauty that smiles 
and rejoices beneath the sun’s warming rays; 
they also know in their lives the wild, mysterious 
sadness and infinite yearning that steals with the 
moon’s first ray through the forest glades where 
the tall trees sigh, and shiver as the spirit passes 
on, borne by the moon’s silver light. 

“And now,” slipping the rolled, silken docu- 
ment within a long envelope, and reclasping 
the bracelet, he placed both in his breast pocket, 
“you have my reason for seeking with such 
determination my golden circlet — tell me, do 
you not think it sufficient?” 

He looked at Irene as he spoke, and she 
forced a smile as she answered: 

“It is indeed, and I wish with all my heart 


304 THE GERMAN BRACELET 

that your future life, as ruler of your people, 
may be in all ways a happy one.” 

Cragfels bowed gravely, and replied : 

“I shall leave you now, and I would say that 
in this great country, where it is not only by 
birth that one may rule, he will be a man doubly 
blessed who wins so truly noble a consort as 
Fraulein Irene. I bid you now farewell.” 

He advanced to the door, but Mademoiselle 
Eunice rose hastily as she said: 

“Attendez, mon ami ! I will accompany 
you.” Then, with a graceful inclination of her 
head: 

“Mademoiselle, — Messieurs, — adieu 1” And 
she departed with Cragfels. 

As Irene conducted the departing guests to 
the great hall, where the old butler was wait- 
ing in the inquisitive anxiety of the faithful 
servant, to show with hearty good will the door 
leading from the home of his beloved master 
to those who seemed to create this unwelcome 
disturbance, she tried to collect her dazed fac- 
ulties, that seemed to have become tired, worn 
out from the strain of the last weary hours. 

“Beg pardon. Miss Renie, shall de luncheon 
be serbed now?” 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 305 

Irene started; it was decidedly past the 
luncheon hour, but she had not realized the 
flight of time. 

“Yes, Frederick; though I doubt if father 
will come in.” 

She sighed, and old Frederick looked cor- 
respondingly forlorn as he murmured with a 
sad downward inflection: 

“Yas, Miss.” 

Irene turned, her mind still a chaos of con- 
tending thoughts, and as she passeed on into the 
sitting-room adjoining the study she paused in- 
voluntarily as Colonel Yelverton, with rapid 
steps, advanced toward her. He regarded her 
steadfastly for a space of time that was in 
reality seconds, but that seemed to Irene, stand- 
ing with averted eyes, and heart beating some- 
where in her throat, as untold ages. 

“Was it for this, Irene, — for this little 
reason, — that you turned from my love, — was 
it?” 

His voice was so gentle, so full of loving re- 
proach that to Irene’s utter confusion she felt 
the hot tears burning her eyes as her wildly 
throbbing heart flooded her cheeks with blushes. 
She tried to speak but could not. 


20 


3o6 the german BRACELET 

Yelverton came a step nearer, and taking her 
tightly clasped hands in his, bent his head till 
his lips touched them, softly, reverently, as he 
said: 

“Irene, even Cragfels would not have been 
guilty of the wretched suspicion and jealousy 
that filled my heart when I thought you were 
deceiving me; even he knew you to be the 
noblest woman that ever breathed. Can you 
ever forgive me? Will you try? Dear little 
girl, tell me.” 

Irene’s words came brokenly: 

“Oh I you mustn’t, — there’s no forgiveness, 
— but, I had no — right, — I have no right 
now — ” 

Murmuring tenderly, “My Princess!” with 
one arm he drew her to him, close, ever closer 
and nearer, until her head rested, like a tired 
child’s, upon his breast, and as he crushed her to 
him with fierce joy that she was at last beyond 
recall his, his very own, she raised her beautiful, 
proud little head, and drinking in the wild, in- 
toxicating love that rose from his soul, to the 
dark gray of his eyes, she whispered softly the 
one word, ^^HoraceP^ while the white lids trem- 


THE GERMAN BRACELET 307 

bled and fluttered down over the misty violet 
depths they shadowed. 

With the hunger of the miser he devoured 
every line and feature of the faultless face, and 
then, with a sigh, he bent his head, his own eyes 
closed, as with the lingering, passionate kiss that 
sealed their love they plighted their faith for 
life and eternity. As their eyes met, time and 
the present faded out of existence, and they be- 
came, by the perfect sympathy of their souls, 
part of the limitless infinite to which love is the 
guiding star. 

At last Irene’s blissful oblivion was dis- 
turbed by the recollection of her father, and as 
her conscience reproached her with selfishness, 
she exclaimed: 

“Oh, Horace, dear, how dreadful I ami I 
had actually forgotten my poor old Dad. I 
must go to him, I must, indeed!” 

“Well, little girl, I guess you should; but 
it’s like seeing the sun travel away from the 
earth — ” he sighed. 

Irene laughed softly 

“And I suppose you’d like to be a Joshua, 
and command it to stand still!” she retorted. 

“Poor old fellow, I never fully sympathized 


3o8 the german BRACELET 

with him before,” Yelverton replied. “Well, 
I shall be here to-morrow — if I don’t come 
back this evening,” he added weakly. 

“Good-by, then.” 

Irene smiled bewitchingly at him, and as her 
eyes met his, the blue and the gray, the hostile 
colors, were suddenly united on Cupid’s banner 
of love. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


With an effort Irene drew the veil before the 
sanctuary in her heart, and shut off from her 
worshiping senses the idol there enshrined, forc- 
ing her mind back to the sad perplexities of the 
immediate present. 

Slowly she passed on to the study door, and 
opened it noiselessly, her intuitive imagination 
already portraying the picture which her eyes 
had not yet actually beheld. 

She paused involuntarily as she noted, with 
acute discernment, the significant attitudes of 
the two actors in this, the last scene of her 
brother’s drama. 

Old Mr. Broadnax sat leaning over the desk, 
his head sunk upon his bent arms, his features 
showing worn and gray as he gazed with dim, 
grief-stricken eyes beyond the bowed head of 
his son, who, on bended knee, was apparently 
trying, with his hand upon his father’s arm, to 
express perhaps repentance, perhaps also a 
half-fearful hope for the future, toward which 
the old man looked with saddened eyes, seeing 
perchance the shadowy vista of his latter years 
(309) 


310 THE GERMAN BRACELET 


bereft of the supporting pride in his brilliant 
son’s future. 

With a half-stifled sigh that was the articu- 
late expression of the infinite pity and love for 
both that with sympathetic comprehension re- 
alized the futility of words at such a manifesta- 
tion of life’s mystery, Irene drew back her foot 
from the uncrossed threshold, and gently, softly 
closed the door, vowing in her heart, with grati- 
tude for its possibility, that she would with 
equally eager care debar every look or syllable 
that might chance to enlighten her mother of 
the pitiful tragedy of which a kindly fate had 
spared her the knowledge. 

As her lingering steps carried her back to the 
sunshine flooded spot where she and Horace 
Yelverton had but a few moments since plighted 
their love, the thought came to her that a new, 
fuller and more beautiful life lay before her. 

She raised her head proudly as with unfalter- 
ing courage she accepted her unknown future. 
She would enter her new life armed with love 
and faith, and with the experience of the frailty 
and attendant blunders of human nature which 
had been revealed by the eventful history of 
the German bracelet. 





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